


The Secrets That you Keep

by FireThatFox



Category: Naruto
Genre: Dimensional AU, Dubious can, F/M, Myths and legends refference, Time Travel AU, non con, violence and death
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-31
Updated: 2020-11-01
Packaged: 2021-03-08 22:34:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 8
Words: 25,497
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27314143
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FireThatFox/pseuds/FireThatFox
Summary: Yes.  I posted this before but deleted it to re-do the first few chapters.  The story took a twist that even I wasn't prepared for.Sakura thought she knew what it was to be a loyal Konoha kunoichi.The Konoha she knew is no more.  It has been replaced by something darker, more corrupt and more sinister than anything she could ever have imagined.The light that does shine through the dark...comes from a most unexpected source, one she thought she had killed long ago.The past is present, the lines of her reality are warped.
Relationships: Haruno Sakura & Namikaze Minato, Haruno Sakura & Sasori, Haruno Sakura/Namikaze Minato, Haruno Sakura/Sasori
Comments: 17
Kudos: 67
Collections: Naruto bests





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Yes. I am reposting this.
> 
> Yes, I have made changes.
> 
> I changed Minato's character a few chapters into the original posting of this fic so that the first few chapters no longer made sense. That has been corrected.
> 
> Usually, I would warp the fic to fit the personality change, however, in this fic's case, I couldn't.
> 
> -I never know how it will go, it just comes out...but instead of just pushing through this one per my usual I went back to make the necessary adjustments.

“No.” The word left his lips in a whisper, a plea. “Kushina…” She was...gone along with everything they had worked for.

Minato the fourth Hokage turned his head, the fox was gone, sealed away into their child, their new born baby, Naruto. Again, another life blackened under the harsh reality of their world.

“Naruto.” The anguished cry of reality crashed around Minato. His wife was dead but his child, their child was...alive. Alive and already blackened not hours after his birth. The new Nine tails Jinchuriki. Something broke inside of him. There was no justice in this world. Everything he had been raised to believe was a lie.

Endure? Fools endured. He, would thrive.

The lord Third watched as the barrier fell down around Minato, Kushina and Naruto. 

“Medic!” Sarutobi called over his shoulder, his eyes never leaving the battered body of Kushina, bleeding and broken on the ground at Minato’s feet. She had always been his anchor, had been the only one that had been able to keep him in the light and now...she was dead, gone, leaving him alone, to raise their child alone and...

So many had died that night. 

Minato lifted the lifeless body of his wife up into his arms. His fingers clawed at her back, his head fell to her hair as he clung to the shell of what once was. “Kushina, I promise that you won’t have died in vain. They will pay, whoever is responsible for this...will pay.”

Tiny heart wrenching wails filled the air as the heavens opened to wash away the blood of the fallen. Cold drops one then two, then too many to count fell over them. Minato gathered his wife in one arm, his son in the other and flashed them to the hospital.

Naruto would need to be checked, his seal tightened, and his wife...Kushina would need to be cleaned, for burial.

Two years later…between the border of Wind and Fire…

“Hokage Sama, the camp has been set up.” The masked Anbu bowed low before his Hokage in respect, one knee bent and touching the ground as he crouched down before Minato, one fist flat against the ground in front of his bowed head.

“Thank you, I’ll join you soon. I just want a few more moments alone.” Minato nodded to the Anbu, then turned to look out over the darkened forest sky.

The stars were coming out. Minato tipped his head back and let out a deep breath. Two years...it had been two years since he had lost his wife in the nine tails attack on Konoha. Two years and yet, it felt like it was only yesterday to him.

The war had been over for several years now, his son would grow up in a time of peace, but that peace would be short lived if measures weren’t taken to keep it. The Kazekage had requested a revision of their treaty and Minato was happy to comply. The treaty was outdated, trade routes listed in it weren’t viable any longer due to the last war, a revision was required for both parties. It was progress that he would of course use to Konoha’s advantage.

They would be in the Land of Wind by morning and in Suna by mid day, then home to Konoha within the week, perhaps two and he would see Naruto again. Minato rubbed his chin at the thought of his two year old son Naruto, always smiling , always moving, such a happy little guy. For how long though. How long would the boy remain happy in a world such as the one they lived in.

For the last two years he had worked tirelessly to change how things were done in their world. Starting with how things were done at home in Konoha and branching out to the weaker, closer allies. Not everyone had agreed with his changes, his viewpoints but what could they do...against him, the Yellow Flash. Even the Raikage bowed down before him.

Minato turned on his heel and walked back to the camp his team had set up for the night. He hadn’t been to Suna for sometime.

The small Konoha party was making good time the following morning, when a sand storm hit. 

“Take cover!” One Anbu yelled.

“Wait! I see something!” Another was pointing out into the distance.

“Is that? Something just fell out of the sky!” The third Anbu pointed at a small crumpled heap a little ways away from them.

Before the others could react Minato used his hiraishin no jutsu to flash to the crumpled heap of what he found to be a woman. Using his robes to shield her from the wind he bent over her, immediately noticing strange black lines that wove over her skin, from her forehead to her arms, down to what he could see of the tips of her toes through her shinobi boots. 

“A kunoichi.” Minato moved her arm from her face looking for injuries and took a small step back in shock, her body was healing before his eyes. She had a large gash across the arm, her jounin blues cut to shreds along one side, but the flesh and blood was knitting itself back together on it’s own. Minato watched, fascinated, he had never seen such a thing before.

He had heard of the technique of course, had heard that the legendary Sannin Tsunade had a Yin seal, but he had never seen it in action before and he had never seen this woman before, she was not Tsunade, she did however have the same diamond on her forehead as the legendary woman which made him wonder if she knew her.

Her hair was short, and pink, she looked about the same age as himself and her clothes were those of a Leaf shinobi but he knew, she was not part of his village. Her chakra signature was strange and powerful, he thought it must have something to do with the lines that wrapped her body.

Shouts and voices carried to him on the wind, his team was coming. Minato looked up, there was a team of Suna nin approaching fast as well. The Kazekage had sent a team to help them in the storm. Minato looked down at the woman...who was she?

“Kunoichi?” Minato shook her by her shoulder, the lines had started to recede as he moved her.

“Kunoichi.” He spoke louder, more firmly, as her eyes began to flutter.

She groaned and moved a hand, he could see she was trying to sit up so he leaned over, slipping an arm around her back and eased her up into a sitting position.

“What, happened?” A femine voice croaked through dry chapped lips, her eyes still shut.

“You fell from the sky.” Minato’s blue eyes watched her as the storm died down around them.

“What?” The kunoichi turned her head to him and looked up at him with shocked, bright green eyes.

“Naruto?” She winced and brought her hand to her head, slumping heavily off to one side.

Minato stiffened, how did this woman know his son? Was she another assassin?

“Who are you? You wear the Jounin uniform of a Leaf shinobi but you are not one of my ninja, what are you doing with those clothes and where did you come from?” Minato asked in a firm voice.

“Your ninja?” The woman opened her eyes again and looked up at the man who was helping her stay upright. Her eyes went wide with shock again as realization slipped over her.

“Oh shit, Lord Fourth!” The woman stuttered. “How the hell…”

Shouts from the Suna nin and his team had both of their heads snapping to the side.

“You will come with us. I have questions and you are in need of medical attention.” Minato lifted the woman up in his arms. Had she deliberately refused to answer him or was she dazed...clearly she had been through something, perhaps he would be lenient on her, for now.

He felt her body stiffen in his embrace and looked down. Her eyes were darting back and forth. He knew she was about to bolt but...

Sakura panicked, no, that can’t happen, she knew she had to find a way to leave, to get away from him, she needed to think, to plan, to find out what the hell had happened and why she was...she was...in the past?

Minato felt her gathering chakra into her arms, he looked down at the tiny woman in disbelief, she wouldn’t dare...didn’t she know who he was, hadn’t she called him ‘Lord Fourth’,he saw the regret in her eyes before she shoved him hard with both of her chakra infused hands and sent him flying in the opposite direction from her.

Sakura wove the hand signs as she ran for multiple shadow clones and their replacement jutsu. She had seen the three Konoha Anbu and the Suna team running toward her and the Lord Fourth, she had to act fast, so she did the only thing she could think of...distract and run like hell.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A few minor changes made to this chapter.

Pop. Pop. Pop.

She could feel her clones dissipating one by one as the Konoha Anbu and their Sand partners made short work of her clones. Sakura smiled to herself. She had never been able to make as many clones as Naruto, but who could, not everyone had the chakra of the ninetails at their fingertips like her goofy friend.

Naruto…

Sakura looked around the small cave she had found by accident and thought of the other man, the one who had been looking down at her with blue eyes as clear and as bright as the summer ocean in the Land of Waves...Minato.

She shook her head. She didn’t have time for that right now. With one hand gripping a kunai and the other fumbling for the pouch that held her chakra distortion pellets, she moved father into the narrow cave. 

With a slight bit of chakra manipulation the diamond on her forehead glowed, lighting her path, in the wake of growing dim common to most caves, so she could see. Sakura could feel the shift in the ground, could feel the slope of her stance as she walked forward, down, further into the unknown.

Temari, the Kazekage’s sister, had become a good friend over the last five or six years. Temari had told her that Wind country, her country, was dotted with many old and ancient caves such as the one Sakura was in now, that most of them were used to evade both enemies and sand storms.

Temari had told her that although many had been mapped after their discovery, there were still thousands that hadn’t. Sakura wondered if this was one of those. She could only hope, because she couldn’t afford to be found right now, not yet. She didn’t even know how she had come ‘here’, or how she would get back, if she could get back.

Suppressing the near hysterical laughter that threatened to bubble over her quivering lip she thanked kami that ‘it’, whatever ‘this’ was, had happened while she had been taking her Anbu re-evaluation tests. She had everything she needed in her pouches and was dressed for both travel and combat.

Of course Minato had recognized her Jounin gear and flak jacket, of course he had noticed her seal in use, she almost smacked herself in the face. She had to use it though, she bit her bottom lip to keep its quiver at bay, or she might have died.

He had said ‘You’re not one of my ninja’, which meant he was Hokage. Sakura paused in her exploration of the cave. He was Hokage...so, had the nine tails attack not happened yet? Was Naruto not born yet? She slapped her hand to her face, she had called him Naruto in her demented state of fuzzy unfocused oblivion.

“Great.” She muttered to herself. If Naruto had been born...the man would be suspicious of her now, he had been...

The scent of the cave had changed from a dank enclosed musty smell to a fresh sort of...water, she lifted her head and sniffed the air much like one of Kakashi’s ninken, water...there was water nearby. Her steps quickened. If there was water perhaps this cave could serve as her base, at least until she could get her thoughts organized and get a plan together.

Like a good Konoha nin she had been releasing a slow but steady amount of her chakra as she walked, not enough for detection, but enough to detect any other shinobi in her close proximity. 

It was a trick Temari had taught her on one of her annual visits to Suna. Every year, by invitation of the Kazekage, Sakura would visit the Suna Hospital. It was a fairly painless procedure of checking the staff, evaluating the hospital's needs and doing the Kazekage a friendly favor.

For Sakura it was more like a vacation. Life after the fourth shinobi war was even more busy than during the war, and that was saying quite a lot. She was the best medic in the world now, thanks to the tutelage of Tsunade, the fifth Hokage and like her Shisou, her skills were in high demand.

When Naruto, her best friend and teammate, took over as Hokage she had been overjoyed. His dream had finally come true. A dream he had since their shared childhood. When he had come to her and asked her to join Anbu as a medic, she had laughed at him. When he had come to her as her Hokage and demanded it...she had punched him through a wall.

Sakura Haruno, was not Anbu material...she had told him, everyone had told him what a ridiculous idea it was for her, of all people, to go into Anbu.

She had never been more wrong. She didn’t just join Anbu, she thrived in Anbu. Her re-evaluation, which happened every six months due to the strain of the job, was her sixth evaluation, of her third year in the elite.

Naruto, it turned out, was a bit more like his father than anyone could have predicted. He was just a late bloomer. Instead of jumping in and barking first, now he stopped, waited and listened. Evaluated the scene and made concise well thought out plans of action, he was in short...wise.

Yes, Naruto had made the right decision placing his best friend and best medic in Anbu, and as Sakura looked through the gradually widening cave narrows, she was glad for all of her Anbu training, because nothing, nothing but her Anbu training could have prepared her for the sight before her, a sight that stole her breath from her chest.

Green eyes the same color as the moss that grew on the tall obelisk before her opened wide. It was the tip and it was capped with gold. A language she didn’t recognise ran in vertical scripts from top to what she could make out of the bottom from her height vantage. The opening where she stood, she realized as she looked down over the edge was a cliff mouth, a dead end for a civilian, a stepping stone for a shinobi like her.

Sakura stood at the edge and looked past the gold tipped obelisk into the vast cavern below. It was like nothing she had ever seen before, it was enchanting, it was beautiful, it was...incredibly dangerous for her to be here. A place like this...couldn’t possibly be unknown to the nearby Suna inhabitants.

Looking across the vast divide she saw another cliff mouth like the one she was standing on. Another entrance perhaps...something to look into. First things first, she told herself, check for enemies, assess the terrain and set up protection seals.

Cautiously she walked down the side of the cliff, eyeing every stone, every crack and taking note of every small plant growing around every stone and from every crack in the wall. It was...interesting. She could still smell the water but she had yet to see it, until she was halfway down the side of the cliff. 

A small gasp escaped her lips and she smiled. Of course, like the rest of her surroundings, the water was beautiful. From a wide crack in the side of the cliff jets of water poured from it like a mouth, a grin, which made her smile. Leaning over she stepped closer with her chakra infused feet and bent to scoop some of the water from the mouth of the crack. Pulling a small test paper from her pack she wet the paper with the water and smiled. Clean, the water was drinkable.

Mentally checking fresh water from the list in her head she leapt to the side to avoid the falling water and walked the rest of the way down the cliff until she reached the floor of the cavern. Large rocks rose up around her in sporadic bunches. Dull green moss clung to the farthest sides of the rocks giving them a softer look from their jagged surroundings. 

In the middle of the cave was the base of the obelisk. Sakura leapt over the small shallow rivers created by the falls to the grassy base and looked at the obelisk with narrowed eyes. Grass...can grass grow in a cave without light? Chakra manipulation her brain told her.

She looked back at the obelisk, her head tilting back to look up to the top. It was tall, taller than she had originally thought it to be. The writing, or the etching rather, up close was even more unusual and forigen to her than it had been when looking at it from the cliff side.

Her fingers twitched at her side. She wanted to reach out and touch the strange writing but something, call it a hunch, told her not to. She bit her bottom lip and stuck her hands in her pockets to resist the sudden overwhelming urge to place both of her hands on the...on the...she shook her head, she felt dizzy, why, what was….she closed her eyes. There was a humming in her head it made her...slumping to her knees she laid down.

“Maybe, I’m….” Sakura closed her eyes and fell asleep.

He moved across the divide, his face hidden in the shadows of the natural cave. He had never seen another here, in his cave before, he thought he was the only one who had known about its location. As he watched the strange woman he began to understand, she had never been here before, her eyes gave her away. He saw in them the same appreciation and wonderment for the beauty that surrounded her, the same emotions, that he had felt when he had found this place.

He wondered who she was. She was dressed like a kunoichi, she wore the Jounin gear of Konoha nin but...there was something off about her, something about her chakra...ah, he said to himself, she was using a distorter. Interesting, he hummed to himself as he watched her walk down the side of the cliff.

Hum, he hummed again as she pulled a paper from her pouch to test the water. Was she a missing nin, he wondered. She was coming closer, she hadn’t been able to sense him...not a natural sensor he mused. He knew he was good at suppressing his chakra to near zero, but he could still be detected, by a few…

Taking a few cautionary steps backward to further cloak himself in shadow, he watched the woman hop the stream to the island. For a moment he wanted to warn her, for a moment his body had lurched forward to stop her but...he didn’t, he waited and soon, she fell asleep, laying in a small crumpled heap at the base of the obelisk. His obelisk.

Slowly, in case the aura of the obelisk hadn’t fully subdued the woman, he walked across the cave floor to the stream that lined the other half of the base and looked at the woman. Convinced she was asleep and wouldn’t scream or attack him, he jumped the stream to land softly, soundlessly beside her on the small island.

Bending over he examined her. He had been right of course, he always was, she was a kunoichi, what appeared to be a Konoha kunoichi from her flak jacket and her headband. No line through the band though. He frowned, not a missing nin? Hum…

A light touch here and there told him she was exhausted, her chakra was low, and he marveled at her ability to use even the little amount of chakra she had been to light her way and to walk down the cliffside. She must have excellent, near unparalleled chakra control. Impressive. He smirked.

Fully confident that she wouldn’t wake he rummaged through her packs...a medic nin? He laid out pouch after pouch beside her looking through their contents. Soldier pills, blood pills, chakra diffusers, chakra distorters, henge pills….henge pills? These were an invention of his own design...where did she get these? Did she make them? He narrowed his eyes at the woman.

Dangerous. This woman was much more dangerous than she appeared. 

With more care than he had originally displayed, he continued to riffle through her belongings. A storage scroll, sealing scrolls, medical scrolls, blood scrolls....blood scrolls? His amber eyes traveled over the woman again, stopping at the wisps of pink. If he hadn’t known better, he would have mistaken her for a civilian. She would have an advantage in a fight, against an unseasoned and perhaps a lightly seasoned foe. They would underestimate her.

He sat back on his heels thinking over each item that he had found making his own assessment of the woman. Pink hair...unusual. A slim form with compacted muscle mass, a taijutsu fighter, close range. Excellent chakra control and a medic but...he looked over her body once more, his eyes lighting on her Yin seal, a front line medic then. He had heard of the Yin seal before of course, but he had never seen one up close.

His tongue wet his lips as he contemplated his next move. He should pack her things back up, it wouldn’t do to alert her to his presence. He wasn’t fond of the idea that she might wish to stay here in this cave, his cave but...he was curious about the woman. He wanted to see her again, observe her more. What if she left as soon as she woke though. 

A thought struck him as he placed her last pouch back on her belt and tied it exactly the way she had it before. He could...mark her, that way he would know...where she was, he could find her again but…

He hesitated. He didn’t even know her. If he marked her, he would be able to find her anywhere in the world yes but...then she would be able to find him too, they would be connected, forever.

While he thought about the ramifications of his impulse the woman moved, her eyes fluttered and he looked down into the most beautiful eyes he had ever seen, so clear and green like...he moved without another thought as her eyes closed once more.

“It seems, I will do something pointless, how...unexpected of me.” He smirked as he pressed a hand to the back of her neck, sealing a bit of his chakra into her coils and siphoning a bit of hers into his as the exchange was made. He closed his eyes. He had always been like this, possessive. She had wandered into his cave, she belonged to him now. To take possession of such an unusual woman seemed only natural to him.

He focused his chakra into his palm and sealed the transfer. It was an ancient technique, one rarely used anymore and only known to a few in Suna, a forbidden technique.

Sasori smiled as he brushed the woman’s hair back from her eyes. He had never cared for the word forbidden, it’s meaning was lost on him. The only limitations in his world were the ones he gave himself. He smirked.

“You belong to me now, pet. I will find you again.” He rose to his feet and without a backward glance, leapt into the air to the opposite cliff mouth and ran from the cave.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...again some changes were made.

“Welcome to Suna, Hokage. I hope the sand storm didn’t give you too much trouble. We’ve had more than our usual share this season. It seems Shukaku is restless.” The Kazekage, Rasa, nodded to Minato and his team.

“No trouble at all. We appreciate your sending a team to greet us.” Minato hadn’t decided if he would tell the Kazekage about the woman he had encountered but thought it likely his Suna team had already informed the Kazekage of her existence. “We did stumble across a rather interesting woman, but she...distracted me and fled. Due to the sand storm, I was unable to pursue her.”

“Yes, my team told me she fell from the sky.” Rasa noticed his brother lean forward in interest beside him. “You remember my brother of course, Akasuna No Sasori.”

“Yes, of course. Akasuna San.” Minato inclined his head to the redhead who sat beside the Kazekage. So...Sasori of the Red Sand really had returned to Suna. Minato wondered what this would mean for him. The man was known for his intelligence and ruthlessness, unlike his weak and easily controlled brother, Rasa.

“Hokage.” Sasori acknowledged the man. “Tell me, in which direction did this pink haired woman, run off to after eluding you?”

Minato smiled a small smile. ‘Eluded’, like her existence, Minato was positive that the Suna team had also told their Kazekage the other unusual event about how the woman had gotten away from him. If he found her again...and he would find her again, she wouldn’t get away from him a second time, he would make sure of it. “A kunoichi of incredible strength, she pushed me away from her and ran while calling forth several shadow clones and casting a replacement jutsu over them.”

Minato shook his head. “Looking back, it was rather impressive.”...and it was...annoying as hell too.

Sasori watched the Hokage, the man wasn’t lying but he wasn’t telling them the whole truth either. ‘Impressive’, yes, the woman had impressed him as well, but also...she had been dressed as a Konoha nin, but the Hokage didn’t appear to know the woman. How...unusual...or convenient.

Minato Namikaze, the Fourth Hokage of Konoha...and the most corrupt one yet, Sasori tapped his fingers on the side of his leg.

The Hokage had confirmed at least one thing for him though. She wasn’t a missing nin...from Konoha. A woman with pink hair such as the one he had found in the cave, his cave, was a rare sight. There was no mistaking her, the Hokage didn’t know her. Perhaps, not a Konoha nin after all then Sasori mused to himself as Rasa and Minato continued to speak with one another.

Was she in disguise...he didn’t feel a henge around her, only the chakra distorter. She could have stolen the Konoha clothes, a bold move for anyone on the run, or in disguise. Why affiliate yourself with a village unless...was she meaning to infiltrate the Leaf? No, not wearing one of their own flak jackets, that would have been terribly foolish.

...or was the Hokage hiding something more from them? The man couldn’t be trusted. His brother was a fool.

Sasori drummed his fingers on the table. He wanted this meeting to be over. He wanted to return to his cave to check on his pink haired pet. Knowing that the Yondaime would be arriving soon, Sasori had taken the precaution of sealing the cave before he had left. From what the Hokage had told them it didn’t seem as though the woman would be seeking assistance from Konoha, if she was in need of it. If she was in need of assistance, he could assist her. She need not look any further than him, he would make sure if it.

“An excellent idea Hokage. Please, get some rest for now, Join my brother and I for dinner this evening. I will have someone escort you to your rooms.” Rasa waved his hand and a servant stepped forward to bow low before Minato.

Sasori rolled his eyes. Could Rasa be any more transparently weak?

“Please follow me Hokage Sama. Your team has already been escorted to their lodgings.” One of their servants addressed the Hokage politely.

Minato nodded to Rasa without thanks, then followed the servant out of the room.

Rasa waited a few moments before speaking to his brother, not wanting to be overheard. “What is it Sasori? You have something to say.”

While not as close as some families were but as close as any Suna royal family could be expected to be with it’s deceit, intrigue and betrayal, Rasa knew Sasori’s tells and Sasori knew his, much to their mutual annoyance. He had seen the interest, a bare reaction, in his brother when the Hokage had mentioned the pink haired woman.

“This alliance.” Sasori began. “I still don’t think it is needed. We have prospered since the war under the new Daimyo. The alliance is no longer needed, not like it was before the war. I suggest a friendly competition. Something more than the Chunin exams. A wager if you will.” Sasori picked at his sleeve as he spoke to his brother. 

Yes, Suna had prospered under the new Daimyo, which is why Sasori had killed the old one. Minato had been pissed. Like most of the Daimyo, the man had been in Minato’s pocket.

“A competition?” Rasa asked, unsure what his brother meant, that’s what the Chunin exams were but his brother had said ‘more’ than the Chunin exams.

“Yes.” Sasori looked up from his sleeve and met his brother's dull brown eyes. “A wager...Suna’s shinobi, against the rest of the four great nations shinobi of any level, paired against on another of the same calibre, or any nation for that matter.” 

“Hum.” Rasa wasn’t opposed to his brother’s suggestion. It would cost capital, but it would also bring a lot of capital into Suna, and as host they would be able to control the event, use it as a means of gathering information on the other nations top shinobi, first hand. “That’s not a bad idea, but do you really think we will get any competitors above Genin or Chunin? Jounin won’t want to compete in something so frivolous.”

“They will if the prize is large enough, their kage will insist upon their participation. The other nations want what we want, so we will offer it to them, freely in the name of friendly competition, a...tournament, if you will.” Sasori said smoothly rising from his seat. “I will offer up the receipt for one of my more deadly poisons as the prize, and you will offer up a substantial cash prize. The combination of the two should entice participation.”

“Make sure you have an antidote to the poison you chose to offer up, I wouldn’t want it used against our own shinobi as a result of your scheme.” Rasa warned.

Sasori scoffed. “Of course. If you’ll excuse me.”

It was only after his brother had left that Rasa realized Sasori had derailed him of his original intent.

Minato sat on the end of the bed, in the room that had been provided to him. With his eyes closed he took a deep breath and focused on the chakra signature he had felt when holding the woman earlier that morning. It had been such a strong and powerful signature, it should have been easy to locate, but he couldn’t. He opened his eyes, there was nothing, not even a faded or fickle flame of her chakra anywhere.

It was as though she had...disappeared. 

“Impossible.” He muttered. People didn’t just disappear to reappear somewhere else...well, not without using a jutsu that is and even jutsu left traces of chakra. There was nothing, she had left absolutely no trail at all for him to grab onto.

Minato was an excellent sensor, said to rival even the skills of the second Hokage, Tobirama Senju. If the woman was nearby, he would have found her...unless...she had intentionally set up a chakra seal, to hide herself. A thought...she obviously hadn’t liked the idea of him taking her with him. She had pushed him away with such surprising force. 

Minato placed a hand over his chest where she had pushed off of him. There was a bruise there, he knew it without looking. Such brute strength he thought. No, chakra infused strength...like Tsunade. The Yin seal, the strength...he had to find this woman. 

She had run from him, she was a threat to Konoha. If she hadn’t run he might have easily thought her a student of Tsunade’s, perhaps on her way to Konoha, but no, she had run from him after recognizing him. She didn’t want to go to Konoha, she hadn’t been sent ‘home’, by the sannin.

Of course, the likelihood of Tsunade sending a student of hers ‘Home’, was also highly unlikely after their ‘Falling out’, over his last decrees.

“Who the hell are you?” Minato wondered aloud. 

Moving about the small kitchens of the manse, Sasori packed rice balls, fruit and two bottles of juice into his pack. He didn’t know if the woman had food on her or not but he thought he should take something to her if he was to garner her compliance. He didn’t want his pet to starve, at least not yet. He had questions for her that he wasn’t sure how to ask her. If he approached her as an ally, she might be more willing to speak to him.

His cheeks flushed slightly in embarrassment. He would never do such a thing normally, but this woman, she was...different. There was something about her, he felt as though he ought to know who she was, but he was positive he had never met her before...he would have remembered the pink hair.

Slinging the pack over his shoulder and tying it across his chest, Sasori jumped out of the second floor window, running across the rooftops of Suna toward the East gate, to his cave and to his...pet.

Sasori released his seal momentarily so he could enter the cave, then resealed it quickly. Walking the short distance to the main cavern he peered down at the small island. She was exactly as he had left her, sleeping at the base of the obelisk.

She must have been extremely tired he thought as he walked up to her and laid his pack on the ground beside her. The power of his obisike was formidable but it shouldn’t have overwhelmed her as quickly as it had. Unless...Sasori licked his bottom lip in thought. Unless he had met her before and had marked her before. It was something he would do. It was also something he hadn’t thought of before now. In his distracted curiosity he hadn’t thought to look for a previous mark...but of course he hadn’t thought he had met the woman before either so he wouldn’t have wasted time doing such a pointless thing.

‘A pointless thing’, he pulled the rice balls and the fruit from his pack and set them on a cloth napkin beside the sleeping woman. She would be hungry when she woke. A sleep induced by his obelisk was both fulfilling and draining at the same time. If she had more than one of his seals on her, she would be drawing in twice as much natural energy, which would explain why she was still asleep. Placing one of the bottles of juice beside the napkin with her food he opened the other for himself.

Never one to share his things or his space with others he hadn’t seen any reason to make many adjustments to his cave when he had found it. He had of course cast the natural genjutsu over the cavern so that the grass would grow on the small island and had cast the jutsu to crack the cliff wall and had used his minor affinity for water to draw the flow to his cave, for his own convenience and pleasure, but any further comforts hadn’t been needed, he rarely slept in his cave, Suna not being very far away.

Now however, he looked down at the woman, watching her chest rise and fall with each gentle breath, perhaps he could...make a few minor adjustments to...entice her to stay a bit longer?

First things first, before she woke he wished to check her for any previous seals, his or any others for surely he was not the only one who had been struck by her beauty and silent charisma.

Moving closer to her side, Sasori moved her onto her back , careful of her head and placed her arms at her side. With a gentleness he only used on his human puppets, he adjusted her legs so that they too were straight and began the process of checking her for any previous seals by infusing her body with his chakra and searching her skin, then her organs and finally her blood and chakra channels.

There, he closed his eyes to concentrate, he had to be sure. Inside her body, just above her abdomen, was his seal...but...Sasori retracted his hands from the woman and sat back on his legs. When had he, when did they…

His seal was inside her which meant...he had either cut her open and placed it there or…

Infusing his hands with his chara once more he moved them over her stomach and realized...scar tissue. He had stabbed her and had transferred his seal into her wound but...why? When? He knew he had never met her before…

It was unsettling to him. He hated not knowing things and he felt that he ought to know this, he should know this. There was only one other person alive that carried his seal within their body, his nephew, the jinchuriki of Suna, Gaara. It troubled him that he held no recollection of placing his seal on this woman, it did however explain the strange connection he felt toward her. His chakra was already in her when she had wandered into his cave...that’s how she had been allowed to wander into his cave. His seal recognized his chakra within her.

“Omoshiroi.” Sasori sat back down on his legs and watched the woman sleep. He was tempted to wake her but he knew he shouldn’t. It was more important than ever to gain her trust now. He needed answers and he knew he would only get them if she told them to him, willingly. He would never put his seal on someone weak, no, he had been correct in his first assessment of her...she was dangerous, he would need to approach her with caution.

With a slightly frustrated sigh he withdrew a pad from his packs and placed it under her head. Leaning forward he ran his finger over the diamond on her forehead. It was darker, more defined, it was full, he realized, his eyes glancing at his obelisk. So, it was a Yin seal, as he had thought. Hum…he let his fingers trail down the side of her face over her cheek. 

There were other things that required his attention, he needed to go but...he watched her eyes move under the cover of her lids and wondered what she was dreaming about, if she was dreaming and how she would react to his efforts when she woke. He stood, made the hand signs and a clone popped into existence beside him.

“I want you to wait here and watch her. Do not let her know you are here.” Sasori instructed his clone who nodded and walked up the cliffside to hide in the shadows.

Satisfied, Sasori turned to survey the rest of the cavern. Jumping over the small stream to the side of the wall he used a basic earth jutsu to crack and make an indent into the rock face, a cove for a bed. He didn’t have any bedding with him, he would need to come back later with it, hopefully before she woke...with another quick hand sign a small circle of earth appeared a short distance from the newly formed cove, a fire pit that would warm her during the night and serve as a place for her to cook her meals. He frowned. There was no game here, no vegetation for her to hunt or forage. He would need to do something about that. He would need to continue to provide for her...he looked back at the napkin of rice balls and fruit. He would bring her more later, or send a clone. He wouldn’t let his new pet starve.

With one last look around he walked back over to the woman, bent down and touched her cheek again. “I’ll be back.” He whispered. 

Leaping up to the cliff mouth, he nodded to his clone and left. He would return later that evening to disperse his clone and check in on her again.

Dinner was always a rather awkward affair in Suna. The Kazekage and his brother weren't the most talkative individuals and more often than not Minato found himself leading their conversations. 

If he were back home in Konoha he could count on his council, or his assistant to help keep the conversation going but he wasn’t home, he was in Suna and the Suna council members didn’t seem to see the need for conversation. Minato preferred to observe rather than speak. Weaknesses were better noticed in silence than expulsion.

Minato wondered how much longer they would be forced to endure this social embarrassment. He would be the first to admit he enjoyed the village more than the village leaders. This was just another check on his list. He had come for the negotiations but now that he knew Sasori Akasuna had returned, he wished to observe the man in conversation.

Which was difficult to do, when no one was speaking.

“What is this dish called?” Minato started the conversation again after several minutes of silence had passed.

“Kabsa.” The Kazekage nodded his approval at Minato’s compliment.

“The rice is very unusual, not the kind of rice we have in Konoha. I would like to purchase some and take it home with me, I think Naruto would like it.” Minato smiled a fake smile at the Kazekage.

“Of course, I will have one of the house maids go to market tomorrow for you. Consider it a gift, to further support our alliance.” Rasa picked up the decanter of watered wine and poured himself a glass, then one for Minato.

“Thank you, that is very generous of you Kazekage.” Minato smiled, he had expected the Kazekage to make such an offer...which is why he had made the comment. Rasa understood where he stood with Konoha, but it was best to reiterate the fact for his brother...newly home.

With a fleeting glance at his brother, Rasa spoke again, slowly as if the thought had just occurred to him. “Have your Anbu found the woman yet? I heard from my scouts they were searching the desert for her. I wonder, why send your personal Anbu, Suna would be more than willing to assist you Hokage.”

Minato hid his smile behind reservation. So, the Kazekage was looking for the woman too? “Ah there is no need, just a curiosity on my part. When we found her, she was wearing the clothes of a Konoha Jounin.”

“Ah.” Rasa hummed a noise in his throat. “I understand.”

No, Minato thought to himself, I don’t think you do understand Kazekage. Minato’s eyes passed over the Kazekage’s brother and found that the man was looking at him rather intently. 

Sasori of the Red Sand was known to be a shrewd man, a clever man and Minato wondered what his interest in the woman might be. He had noticed the small byplay between the brothers earlier that day, how the redhead and leaned forward in his chair at the mention of the pink haired woman...it was then that Minato realized, Sasori knew about her, knew of her, or knew where she was, or…was hiding her himself.

Minato returned the man’s placid gaze with one of his own. Sasori cocked his head to the side and smiled a small smile as if to say, ‘I know something you don’t’. Minato kept his eyes bland and his gaze steady. Perhaps he should have his Anbu follow the brother instead of having them comb the desert for the woman…

No, the man would know, he was an excellent sensor, like himself. This deserved some more thought, clearly the man knew more than he was saying...and he wasn’t saying much.


	4. Chapter 4

Instead of a monetary prize I think it should be a valuable object. An object that all the great nations know we possess...and covet.” Rasa looked over the rim of his sake bowl, his dark eyes taking in the very subtle disapproving twitch of his brother.

“Hum.” Sasori replied, no, that was a bad idea. He knew which scroll his brother spoke of. “The risk is too great.”

“What if...no one wins, we lose nothing.” Rasa countered. He wanted the nations to send their champions, he needed to observe the best first hand, which meant he needed to offer them a prize worth their time and effort, he had no plan on relinquishing said prize though. 

“You mean to cheat.” It was a statement. Sasori groaned internally. Sometimes his brother could be such an...idiot. “You mean to start a war then?”

Rasa’s eyes flickered from his brother’s intense stare to the pearl sake in his cup. “Not a war but...a little tension perhaps? To fan the flames of competition.”

“A foolish idea Rasa. It would cast the tinder of war and set Suna on fire, all of the nations would turn on us. Not even Konoha would stand by us.” Sasori all but rolled his eyes at his brother, the man held no reasonable foresight, he never had. That had been clear when he had used his own son as the vessel for the one tail, forcing Sasori to place his own seal on the boy, to protect the village from him.

“You’re short sided Sasori.” Rasa set his empty bowl down to refill it.

“You’re drunk and forgetting to whom you speak.” Sasori nodded to the now full cup. “Stop while you're ahead Rasa, foreigners are among us, inside the village walls. You shouldn’t be drinking, you let your guard down. A foolish decision.”

“That’s twice now you’ve called me foolish since we’ve started drinking Sasori.” Rasa tipped his cup back and set it down with a clang.

“...and countless times since our childhood. I see no point in refrain. I am sure you will allow me ample opportunity to continue to call you a fool in the future, but for now...I have other things to do. Goodnight brother.” Sasori rose from his seat and walked out of the common room before his brother could protest.

Stopping by his quarters on the way out of the manse Sasori noticed the door to his bedroom was slightly ajar. With narrowed eyes he pushed the door open to his bedroom and rolled his eyes.

“Gaara, what do you think you’re doing in my rooms brat?” Sasori walked over to his bed and lifted his little nephew off his coverlet with chakra strings and set him on the floor none to gently.

Little arms waved in the air back and forth. “Up. Ngh.” Gaara motioned, a small bit of drool escaping his mouth.

Sasori wrinkled his nose in disgust. “I don’t like you, get out.” He pushed the small boy from his bedroom and shut the door behind him. “Annoying brat.” The little fleshling was always following him around, an unfortunate side effect of his seal. 

With a quick look around to make sure the runt hadn’t disturbed any of his possessions he tucked the storage scroll he had packed before dinner into his pouch and jumped out the window.

Sasori felt them the moment he had left his rooms of the Kazekage manse, Konoha Anbu were following him. The Hokage wasn’t that foolish, not like his brother. He doubted the man told them to follow him. Hum, Sasori smirked. They were wasting their time, but more importantly they were wasting his time. 

Ridiculous. Sasori jumped nimbly over the last dune before the stretch of open void that led to his cave and his pet. Making three clones and dispersing them in three separate directions he increased his speed and ran to his cave.

Once inside, he sent his clone that he had left with the woman out into the desert to run ahead of the others. To the eyes that followed him, it would appear as though he had merely paused at the dune, before swiftly moving onward and out. Sealing the entrance once again he dropped down from the cliff mouth and into the open cavern.

Concern marred his features as he looked at the pinkette. She had moved in her sleep, but she had yet to wake. This wasn’t good. She had been sleeping for too long. Had he missed something? Was she hurt and he had overlooked her injury? 

Impossible. Her skin was near flawless, it was something he had noticed about her right away as it was such an unusual feature for a kunoichi of her age. Most women in their line of work had multiple scars across their arms and legs, many over their faces but she had none, none that he could see in her clothed state.

Bending over her once more he checked her with his chakra. She seemed okay. He would need to wake her then...but first he would get her cage set up for her.

Sasori pulled the storage scroll from his pouch and unsealed the bedding he had packed, the small kitchen things for her and a food scroll. With a few quick hand signs he made multiple indents in the wall beside her bed cove for the dishes and utensils, unrolled the bedding and spread it over the stone sleeping cove and placed a few small dry goods on the remaining shelves. Lastly, he tucked the food scroll on top of the cooking pot where she would be sure to find it.

Pleased with his efforts he knelt down beside the woman once more and watched with unencumbered fascination as she subconsciously chewed her bottom lip in her slumber. He wanted to chew on her lip...The urge to bite her lips with his own two front teeth surprised him. He sat back and away from the woman. Where had that desire come from...she was attractive but...it must be something from his past or their unknown shared connection.

He was disappointed in himself, he felt that he ought to know...what their connection was, when and why he had placed his first seal on her…he needed to control himself. He prided himself on his intricate spy network across the nations. Sasori knew almost everything about everyone. It both bothered and angered him that he knew so little about something so close to him, about him, directly connected to him...that it was driving him mad with curiosity.

So self absorbed in his thoughts, Sasori had barely heard her breathing change, she was waking up...adrenaline shot through his bloodstream in his excitement. This rush of endorphins was such a common feeling for him...in the heat of battle, in the passion of slaughter and chaos but not...damn, she was trying to move her arm, he needed to move...Sasori leapt back and away from the woman, kicking off the side of the cliff wall to hide in the cliff mouth of the opposite side he had entered from. 

He wanted to see her eyes when she opened them, he wanted to see if they were as green as he had thought they had been in the brief moment she had opened them before sleep had claimed her again. Crouching low, his heart pushing out against his chest painfully aware of every twitch and every sigh the woman made, he watched and waited.

There was a pain in the back of her neck. Sakura tried to raise her arm to feel for an injury but her arm was too heavy and refused to do her bidding. She could feel the ache deep within the muscles of her shoulders and biceps. She willed herself not to panic at her inability to move, however...not only had she fallen asleep in an unsecured and unknown location, she couldn’t move, she couldn’t protect herself. Sakura considered it a miracle that she hadn’t been attacked, that she was still alive. 

How foolish of you Sakura, she scolded herself for her carelessness. It was something she would have done in her Genin days, but not now, not...Sakura sat up abruptly and grabbed her chest, her whole frame lurched forward and curled in upon itself involuntarily, pain shot through her limbs at the sudden jerking of her body. “What?” She groaned.

The sharp pain throbbed throughout her limbs and curled painfully in her gut, shot down her spine making her fall over onto her side again gasping for breath. “Ahh, akkk.”

Sasori’s fists clenched at his side. She was clearly in pain, but clearly he couldn’t go to her, she didn’t know him, at least...he didn’t think she did but…

“Damn it.” Sakura’s hands went to her abdomen where Sasori of the Red Sand had impaled her so many years ago. It seemed every time she was injured, everytime she got ill, the old wound from the Puppetmaster would flare up and haunt her.

“Damn you Sasori, you sadistic bastard. I bet you did this on purpose, so I would never forget you.” She hissed through her gritted teeth. It was exactly something the old poison master would do too. “Too bad you’re already dead, I would kill you all over again if I had the chance.”

Sasori starred, she, they...‘What?’, Sasori stood and nearly took a step forward to demand an explanation for her outburst, his eyes were wide as he looked down at the woman. ‘She killed me?’...impossible...but if it were true, no wonder I placed my seal on her...with my sword, he thought wildly. ‘She. Killed. Me?’, he hadn’t been expecting that.

If she had boasted of it, if she had told him such a thing to his face he might not have believed her, but she thought she was alone, there was no one there to fool, no one there to impress...she was telling the truth.

“My head ugh.” She lay on her side holding her head. She was surprised to find her chakra pools full as she pushed a bit of healing chakra to her fingertips to soothe her aching head. Slowly moving her hand down her body, building up a gradual flow of chakra she numbed the pains of her abdomen and then the new pain in the back of her neck.

With a sigh of relief she opened her eyes and looked around the dim cavern. Touching her Yin seal, her eyes widened. 

“It’s full already?” Sakura tilted her head back to look at the towering obelisk in suspicion. Now that she had gotten some sleep she could feel the natural energy seeping out of the obelisk. 

“How strange.” She murmured to herself circling the obelisk with interest. Coming around the other side of the obelisk her eyes caught sight of the changes someone had made to the cave while she had slept.

“What…?” Sakura took a step back from the obelisk and searched the cliffs for signs of humanity, someone had been there while she had been sleeping.

Sending her chakra out and around her she walked up the cliffside to the mouth of the cave entrance opposite to where Sasori was watching her. 

“A seal?” Someone was here, or had been here recently, she ran her hands over the chakra signature in the seal. It felt familiar. Not for the first time in her life did she wish she was a better sensor, if she was she might be able to match the signature to a name but that is one of the areas she had never excelled in.

This corridor she noticed, was much shorter than the one that had brought her into the cavern from the desert. She surmised that whoever had been here, had probably used this entrance, versus the one she had used...her eyes went to the other side of the cave, to the other corridor…

Sakura jumped down from the cliff mouth, walked over to the bedding in the new wide shelf along the cliffside and fingered the soft fabric between her fingers in surprise...it was well made, expensive...someone had put forth an effort to make her comfortable. Her eyes traveled up the other side of the cliff to the darkened corridor beyond. She couldn’t feel anyone there but...that didn’t mean there wasn’t someone there. Should she...thank them? 

There was a mild pulsation in her chest. Sakura swallowed, it wasn’t a completely unpleasant feeling but it was...intrusive in an intimate sort of way. Closing her eyes and focusing on the feeling she felt it moving from the back of her neck to , to...her abdomen where...Sakura opened her eyes as the pulsations turned into a vibrating tingle. It soothed her, relaxing her still aching muscles. She shook her head, something to look into, later.

Her eyes traveled back to her surroundings...who ever had done this for her, if they had wanted her thanks they would have made themselves known by staying until she woke, or by leaving her a note. No, she turned her gaze from the cliff back to the bedding, then to the shelves in the wall with the dishes and cook pot. She would be insulting them if she snooped too much...they were telling her it was okay for her to be there by their generosity, she reasoned with herself.

She was grateful to whoever had done this for her, hopefully they would feel comfortable enough to reveal themselves eventually, so that she might thank them in person. Sakura ran her hand over the bedding one more time before stepping away to look at the firepit. Untying the third pouch from her waist she pulled out the storage scroll that held most of her belongings and other scrolls. Unraveling the third seal of the scroll she pulled out her camping scroll and released its contents.

Sasori leaned out of the shadows a bit further so he could see what she was doing. Laid out before her was a large pile of wood, chopped and split ready for the fire pit, another cooking pot, camp utensils and a strange sort of lantern and a water seal. The woman sealed the water seal back into the secondary scroll along with the cooking pot and utensils, but kept the lantern and the firewood out.

His eyes widened yet again as he watched her push a button on the side of the lantern, making the whole object light up, illuminating the entire cave. Sasori ducked back into the shadows to avoid detection, peeking out just an inch under the cover of his dark cloak. What an amazing contraption, he wanted to inspect it close up, perhaps she would leave it if she went out and he could get a better look at it. He frowned. If she went out, the Hokage would know. It was imperative she remain hidden, here in his cave.

Sasori knew he would need to seal her inside, for her own protection. He had grown rather fond of his little pet. He didn’t want her to escape, not when he had so many questions to ask her not when he...well, he wasn’t quite sure what this feeling was but he knew he wasn’t ready to lose her yet.

He had to know more about her, about them and their history. From the bitterness in her voice and from her words...they hadn’t been friends, not that he had expected them to be. He didn’t have friends, he didn’t have a use for them. This revelation, as shocking as it was to hear a little woman such as herself had killed him, would have been even more shocking if she had claimed to be his friend. Friend or enemy, she knew him, had memories of him that he didn’t. Memories he wanted, needed to know more about.

Sakura piled a few logs into the fire pit, took a deep breath and lit them with a minor fire jutsu, the only fire jutsu she knew. When Sasuke had told her she barely had an affinity for fire, he hadn’t been saying it to piss her off. It was the truth. He had reluctantly taught her that one minor fire jutsu before leaving the village for the fourth time after the fourth great war, and to this day, it was the only one she could master no matter how hard she tried.

Water and earth remained her dual mains but she had, through a bit of playful training with Naruto managed a few wind jutsu, but it seemed like fire, that was her limit. It was fine. Sakura didn’t mind. She would have liked to be able to add wind and fire to her battle arsenal but medical jutsu was much more rare and much more formidable in battle, in her opinion. Mostly, because no one expected it.

After surpassing her mentor Tsunade, Sakura had spent years in and out of Anbu honing her medical jutsu and weaponizing it. Ironically it had been Kabuto, that cabbage head of a lackey to Orochimaru who had shown her how medical jutsu could be manipulated and transformed to hurt as well as it could be used to heal.

Since she had begun to experiment with her medical jutsu, mastering a change in chakra form and then a change in chakra nature, she was able to create several personal jutsu of her own design in the field, and had published over 5 training scrolls for the Konoha Medical library on the subject as well as two for her private collection that were listed as forbidden jutsu along with several of the Lord First and Lord Second’s jutsu.

Sakura was proud of herself and who she had become, perhaps that’s why Naruto had wanted her for Anbu. There wasn’t anyone he trusted to not only bring back his teams alive, but to come back alive themselves.

“Except this time, this time I have no idea how to get back, much less where I am.” Sakura drew her knees up and set her chin on top of them staring into the fire.

Sakura looked back over at the obelisk in quiet contemplation, huh? She hadn’t noticed the food before. Rising to her feet she moved to the rice balls and fruit. She smiled at her mystery person’s thoughtfulness yet again. Someone had left her food and a drink. She bent over and picked the bottle of juice up, carrying both food and drink back to the fire.

Pulling a test paper from her medic pouch she opened the juice and dipped the paper inside, it came back clear so she knew it was safe to drink. She doubted that the person who had done so many nice things for her meant her harm but...old habits die hard and one could never be too cautious. Infusing a finger with chakra she tapped each rice ball checking them for poison, and then the fruit. 

With a small nervous chuckle she popped one of the pieces of fruit into her mouth and chewed noisily. As soon as the fruit touched her tongue she was in heaven. Quickly, one after the other she ate until not even one grain of rice was left. She had been starving. Her appetite had been expected. She was always ravenous after using her seal but the flavors of the fruit and the intensity of which she had devoured her meal had embarrassed her. She was only glad there wasn’t anyone there to see her make such a pig of herself.

Hunger momentarily sated, she leaned back against the cliff wall facing the fire. She would need to leave the cave to gather information. A rough plan was coming together in her head as she watched the flames move with the breath of the cave in front of her. Untying the first pouch from her waist she set it beside the third one she had taken off earlier and pulled a notepad and pen from it. She would make a list of things she needed to know.

The first thing on her list was the year, what year was it? She laughed to herself, wow she had really messed up this time. She had been trying to learn yet another new jutsu and of course she had picked one of the hardest ones, the Flying Thunder god Technique, the Second and Fourth Hokage’s jutsu.

Something had to have gone wrong...really wrong. She frowned at her blank notebook, then scribbled furiously thinking of the lecture Naruto would give her when she got back...if she got back, about her need to fill the void with...jutsu.

-How old is Naruto Uzumaki here?

Sakura smiled at her handwriting. Okay next…

-How to reverse the jutsu, the flow of time, to get back???

She emphasized the question with several query marks, that was going to be the hardest one she thought. It would require investigation, possibly utilizing resources that she didn’t have, that she would need to get...from Konoha’s Hokage archives...impossible. She of course had her tags that she had made, the adjustments to make them her own and the small copied scroll of the jutsu but...no she needed the information she had based her formula off of, she needed to compare them and find out where she had gone wrong.

Sakura groaned, an impossible task was right. She had run, she had pushed the Hokage away from her and had run away from him...and with Minato Namikaze as Hokage, looking for her...there was no way she would be able to sneak into Konoha to get the information she needed. Even in a henge, even with chakra distorters it seemed so...he was just, he was the Yellow Flash, the Yondaime! She groaned again, she was such an idiot.

“How could you do something so incredibly stupid Sakura?” She moaned to herself, shaking her head at the mess she was in all because she had once again been trying to find something to make her feel...complete.

‘Sakura’, Sasori closed his eyes, the name suited her. 

She had thought for a very long time that Sasuke would make her feel complete, that she was in love and that if he would only love her back, all would be right in her world. Then he had left her, alone and unconscious on a cold cement bench at night unprotected. Shortly after, Naruto had left her to train with the white haired Sannin...and when she had gone to the Jounin apartments to see if Kakashi would train with her...she had found a note, telling her good luck, that he had returned to Anbu.

For a week she had cried like a baby, for a week she had sulked around, complained and whined to Ino who patted her on the back and looked at her with pity in her eyes. Then, word had come that Tsunade Senju, the great granddaughter of the Lord First had returned to the village, and had accepted the office of the next Hokage. Sakura had left her parent’s home and had fallen to her knees in front of the famed woman and had begged her...to take her as an apprentice without shame.

At first she had said no but Sakura returned the next day and then the next, to bow down before the woman, her forehead pressed to the floor, her arms outstretched, her plea was the same each day. “Please Lady Tsunade take me on as your apprentice, I will not fail you.”

Finally, on the first day of the third week, the blonde had tapped her pen on her knee and said, “Okay kid, let’s go to the training grounds, show me what you got.”

Sakura laughed at the memory. She had been sure the Sannin would tell her to leave, to give up being a kunoichi, her performance had been pathetic but she hadn’t. Instead she had told Sakura to meet her at the tower the next morning at 5am...and two years later, when Naruto came back...they left Konoha once more with Kakashi...as a team...to rescue the Kazekage from the Akatsuki. A team...what a joke...

They had followed them to Grass country, to a little cave, much like the one she was in now, only a little smaller, where she had first set eyes on Sasori and had her first real battle. Sakura closed her eyes. It had been so long ago. Placing her hands over her abdomen she felt that familiar pain again, that void like something was missing only...she opened her eyes, it was different now. It didn’t feel as empty, as hollow it felt...connected like…there was a connecting pulse, a hum in her bones...she felt...peace, belonging, something she hadn’t felt in a very long time. She felt like...someone was watching her, someone was there, hiding…

Sakura stood up and looked around the cavern…”Sasori?” She called out into the open air.


	5. Chapter 5

His eyes widened at her voice. She was calling out to him. He closed his eyes willing his feet to remain still. Sweaty fingers gripped the fabric of his shirt as he gripped it from the back, willing his arms not to reach out to her. Not to step out and show himself to her. If he had known she already possessed one of his seals, he never would have placed another on her. It only made the pull between them harder to resist, it only served to deepen their connection…

Damn him and his carelessness, he should have checked her for seals when he had felt even the slightest pull toward her.

Sasori knew the seal he had used on the woman, this Sakura, he knew for whatever reason, he had claimed her because...because he had, he had wanted her, he had wanted to own her, to possess her but...damn it…

“Sasori?” Sakura called out to him again.

Little beads of perspiration broke out on his brow, damn it woman, please, he groaned, stop calling out for me. One step…”I can’t”, he murmured...no, he chided himself, stop...another step…

Light laughter filled the cavern below, a soft tinkling girlish laugh, pleasing to the ears. “I’m so stupid.” The woman, Sakura, muttered to herself. “Of course he isn’t here, I mean even if he is ‘here’, he wouldn’t be here, now with me in this cave.” She laughed again and sighed.

Sasori slumped down the side of the cave wall and held his head with his hands, thank kami she had stopped calling out to him, thank kami he had maintained control, this woman, this was bad...her pull on him was too great. He realized then, that the first seal...wasn’t connected to anything anymore, the first seal where his chakra was in her...hers was...gone, the vessel that had taken her chakra during the sealing process was no more, was...dead.

If she had killed him, that would make sense. If she had killed him, he had only one draw of her chakra in him and she had two of his...he needed to draw more of her chakra from her, they needed to be equal. Right now, she had too much control...that would never do. Sasori frowned.

He took several deep breaths, calming himself, he needed to relax, he needed to think...he needed to draw her chakra from her body so they were equal. Relax, he told himself, he would wait until she fell back asleep, then, he would take what was rightfully his. 

What had she said, he tried to focus his thoughts on what the woman had said earlier. 

“Except this time, this time I have no idea how to get back, much less where I am.”

Her statement could have several different meanings. It could mean she is lost and doesn’t know how to get back home. It was rare for shinobi not to know where they were or how to get back to where they had come from, but it did happen if they were very far afield, sometimes. He doubted that is what she had meant though.

Leaning forward, but still covered in shadow, Sasori watched her move about the small campsite. While he had composed himself she had set the hot pot to boil, found his food scroll he had left for her and was boiling chicken and leeks. Soup, she was making herself some soup.

Laid out on the ground were seals, no...he squinted at the little rectangular tags, they were formulas. She had different formulas laid out on the cavern floor beside her while the soup boiled. Sasori recognised one of them, one of them was the same formula Minato used for his Flying thunder god technique...had she stolen it?

He continued to watch as the woman laid out two more tags next to the four on the ground. She seemed to be studying them, making small marks in a notepad as if she were comparing them. One of the second set she had laid out contained a similar formula to the one The Hokage was known to use but Sasori hadn’t seen it before. Sakura pulled three more tags out of her packs and laid them next to the second set.

Those were seals. Sasori regonzined the seals but they too, were like nothing he had seen before. They seemed to be variations of formula and Uzumaki seals. Was she trying to create something new?

“Damn it!” Sakura scowled at the tags in front of her. “Which one of you little bastards sent me here! I just want to go home to my own damn time!”

‘Her own time?’, Sasori blinked, sat back on his heels and frowned. It was possible but...

Sasori continued to ponder her words and what little clues he had gathered about her. She wore Konoha jounin blues and their flak jacket, yet the Hokage had no idea who she was. She had apparently distanced herself from the man and had fled. Everything that she had on her seemed to me she had either prepared for this journey or had been on a journey when she had been...derailed.

That didn’t account for her memories of him, her claim that she had killed him and his seal. His seal that was half dead. That is what a failed transfer seal is, a dead seal. The transfer seal ‘He’, had placed inside of her abdomen was also known as a marriage seal, where both parties claim half of one another’s chakra, only it seemed she had half of his chakra and he...or the one who had placed the seal on her had vanished with her half, or had died.

It was an old Suna custom, far outdated in this time. Sasori tapped his fingers against his knees. The Suna council had been pressuring him to find a wife these last few years. He had told him he would, when he found one worthy of a marriage seal. They had gasped, protested, told him he couldn’t do such a thing, that it was barbaric, uncalled for.

‘Couldn’t’, the fools. He, could do whatever he wanted, it wasn’t like they could stop him even if they were brave enough to try...and they weren’t. ...but, he looked at the woman as she stirred her soup the tags still on the cavern floor beside her, he had provided for her, it seemed that another ‘him’, had found someone worthy and had placed his seal on her. Without her knowing. ...because clearly, she hated him.

Nothing in his life had been easy. Why would finding the right woman be easy for him...well it didn’t matter. He knew now, the only logical explanation was...she had either traveled through time like she thought, or she had traveled through dimensions which was a possibility because...he wasn’t dead and she thought he was. 

Sasori rubbed his hands across his face and chuckled silently to himself. Of course, it would be just like him to find a woman in one timeline or dimension and instead of killing her, sealed her to himself with a transfer seal...without telling her, let her kill him instead, allowing her to live the rest of her life without him feeling incomplete and lonely.

His grandmother had been right. He was an asshole.

Sasori shook his head and stood up. Whether he was right in his assumption or not one thing was clear, he had sealed her here and now. She was his whether she liked it or not. What was also clear was she didn’t like him. He would need to handle this situation carefully, but first things first. She could not be allowed to leave this cave, not with the Hokage in Suna. 

If he had wanted a war, he would just let his idiot brother make all the decisions without his input and let Suna fall down around him. No, he didn’t want to have to explain to the Hokage who she was, why he wanted her and what their connection was, not yet at least, not before he was sure she would receive him and allow him to protect her.

In his mind that was the only option. She had to stay with him, she belonged to him. He couldn’t allow anyone else to interfere. If the Hokage found out how she had gotten here, he might think it was his right to claim her as a Konoha shinobi. Sasori wouldn’t allow that to happen. Apparently one of his other selves had already died for this woman, by this woman, he wouldn’t make the same mistake. His other self must not have had any other option, that must have been the way of it.

Sasori looked back down at Sakura, yes, that must have been the way of it. Why would he place his seal on her, only to leave her, or let her kill him? It didn’t make sense to him.

Sakura hummed as she stirred her soup and ladled out a bowlful. It smelled delicious and the bowl warmed her hands delightfully. She knew it got rather cold in the desert at night and was grateful to whoever had been kind enough to provide her these comforts.

She sipped her soup and frowned at the tags she had laid out. She wasn’t sure but she thought she may have narrowed it down to two of them, the two that were the closest to the Fourth Hokage’s. The two she had combined with Uzumaki seals recommended by her knuckle headed Uzumaki Hokage…

The soup was as delicious as it smelled and she helped herself to another bowlful. The rice balls had been tasty but she had needed more nourishment after using her seal even though it was full, it had pushed her body to its limits. She would need to sleep again and soon. Her arms and legs were already growing tired again with the food and warmth.

After finishing her third bowl of soup she moved the hot pot from the coals and set it on the cave floor to cool while she picked up her tags from the ground and put them back in her pack. Moving slowly to the shallow stream she stripped down to her wraps and shorts, pulled a washcloth from her pouch and scrubbed her skin, just enough to get the grime off. She didn’t want to lay down in the nice bedding soiled from her travels.

Satisfied with her efforts Sakura rose to her feet and stretched, leaning backward then forward swinging her arms out from side to side. She had a basic starting point. She would just have to go from there. Pulling two kunai from her pack she slipped one under her new pillow and laid down in her new bed. The little cove was the perfect size, just a foot longer than her and wide enough for two people, enough room for her to sleep comfortably.

With one last glance at the coals in the firepit, the second kunai in her hand laid easily across her chest, she closed her eyes. Her benefactor, whoever they were had already sealed the cave with a protection seal better than any she could have made, if they came upon her in the night, she only hoped she had enough time to thank them before accidentally killing them...if she could kill them...only an exceptional shinobi ...could have...cast...that...seal. It would take someone stronger than her to break it.

Amber eyes peered out from around the corner of the cliff mouth. She was asleep. He had hoped she would leave her tags out so he could look at them, but of course she had put them away. He would need to be a little more careful this time as he moved around her, she was in a natural sleep, not a sleep brought on by the energy of his obelisk.

Moving soundlessly around her small camp he picked up the lantern she had used earlier. It was like nothing he had ever seen before. He wanted to push the button that she had pushed earlier to watch it light up but he didn’t wish to wake her. Perhaps later. He set her lantern down and moved over to her hot pot. Peering inside he was pleased to see she had eaten almost all of it. He would bring her more tomorrow.

Sasori picked up the pad she had been making notes on earlier when she had been inspecting her tags. He was both a bit surprised, but impressed when he flipped through the little notebook. She had cast a genjutsu over it to conceal its contents. It was easily broken, but for a shinobi less skilled than himself, it would have been rather difficult to break, and would have most likely protected her secrets. 

Taking his time he scanned each page, they were her own notes on tags and formulas, different types of seals and time-space jutsu. Sasori looked from the notebook to the sleeping woman. Yes, she would do nicely. Her notes were precise, neat and organized by category, then sub category. She noted her references, which confused him, many were from the Hokage’s own personal files, this was...almost proof beyond her words that she had uttered earlier. She wasn’t from his time.

...but was she from his dimension? Again, he thought not, otherwise, he would be dead. Which made him wonder. If she was here, was her other self not born yet or will she die, because she is here? It didn’t matter overall. She was here, that’s all he cared about.

Sasori set her notebook down where she had left it, cast the same genjutsu over it and moved to her bed. With the practiced nimble touch of a Puppet master, he touched his palm lightly over his seal in her abdomen and slowly withdrew her chakra from her coils. On every exhale, he rested his palm gently over his body and with every inhale he withdrew her chakra, a little at a time until he could feel it intermingling with his own low, in his own abdomen.

Her chakra was warm and full of life. It danced across his coils making him feel light and ridiculous. He realized he was smiling and that his eyes were closed. ‘How foolish’, he told himself, his ears turning pink. Reluctantly he withdrew his hand.

Sasori licked his bottom lip as he contemplated the wisdom of kissing her in her sleep. If she woke it would be disastrous, she would never trust him if she woke to find him kissing her. Perhaps just...his fingers traced the rise of her cheek ever so lightly. 

“I will come back tomorrow to check on you again...Sakura.” He said softly, his mouth ghosting her ear. “Do not leave the cave.”

He could feel the pulsation of her chakra as it continued to dance with his own. It would take some getting used to but...he found the experience rather pleasant if he were honest.

Stepping back he moved toward her notebook. He didn’t know her but he knew himself. If it were him in her position and he woke to find seals of entrapment locking him inside, he would break them at any cost and it would make him furious. So...he wrote her a note and hoped that they hadn’t known one another well enough for her to recognize his handwriting.

He laid the notebook at her feet where she would find it in the morning. With one last look at the woman he had sealed not only once but twice now, he walked up the side of the cliff, made a shadow clone to watch over her and resealed the cave for her protection.

Minato could feel the man moving at an incredible pace back toward Suna. He had fooled his Anbu with a few clever shadow clones but he couldn’t fool him, Minato Namikaze, the Fourth Hokage. He knew Sasori was up to something, and he knew it had something to do with that pink haired woman he had found in the desert on his way to Suna.

Twice now the man had given him a tell, twice now it had been when the conversation had turned to the pink haired woman. Minato wasn’t a fool. He laughed a lot, smiled easily, but it was all part of the job. He was the Hokage. The image suited him. 

Rasa and he had always had a certain understanding, but it seemed that the Kazekage was getting a little too comfortable in his role now that his brother was back in Suna and at his side. That was something that would need to be addressed and soon. Privately. 

Konoha had always had a hand in all of Suna’s transactions, it was what had been agreed upon nearly a decade ago. Konoha had a decent set up here and Minato wasn’t going to let that change, just because one redheaded idealist happened to decide to come home and ‘Help his nation’ after the war.

Yes, Sasori of the Red Sand was going to be an issue. Minato knew it, had anticipated it. Dinner had proven that and had left MInato with no false hopes whatsoever. Sasori’s presence made things a bit more...complicated but not unsalvageable. Minato tilted his head back and looked up at the desert sky. He loved the night’s sky out in the desert. It was one of the things he loved the most about visiting Suna. That, and the payout.

A payout they would need if they were to wage war with Iwa in the next ten years as he had planned. Naruto would be twelve, and ready for war as the jinchuuriki of Konoha, the nine tails vessel. With his son leading the charge, Iwa didn’t stand a chance. ...and once Iwa was theirs, Suna was next. He only needed to pull them along for ten more years, and it would all be worth it.

Yes, Rasa and Minato had an understanding. They hadn’t decided to make both of their sons jinchuriki's on a whim or by coincidences, no...Minato had always meant for Naruto to kill Gaara when the time came, yes...because what was the one tail, compared to the dark powerful chakra of the nine tails? Nothing, and they both knew it. Afterward, Konoha would have two tailed beasts at their disposal.

Rasa was getting paid handsomely, the man never had any complaints. Except now his brother was back from the wars. His talented, ruthlessly clever brother. The one who had turned down the Suna elders' decision to make him Kazekage, the one who had passed the mantle to his younger brother, the more easily controlled and manipulated brother, Rasa.

The brother who sought neither fame nor glory for his devotion to his village...the ‘Good Son’.

It was a shame really, Minato mused as he looked back out over the desert where Sasori was racing across the sand. Sasori would have been so much better to control but...who can control a puppet master? 

Besides, Minato ducked down low, behind a pillar so he wouldn’t be seen as Sasori jumped the gate and kicked off the wall to land on the roof of the Kazekage’s manse, Sasori wasn’t just a puppet master. Sasori was ‘The’ puppetmaster.

Stepping back out of the shadows, Minato nodded to his Anbu. “Did you find her?”

“No sir. We tried to follow him but...he tricked us. Forgive us Hokage Sama.” The captain of his Anbu bowed low before him, his hands trembled in fear.

“No matter. I know where she is now, he led me right to her and I didn’t even have to leave Suna.” Minato turned his back to the Anbu, he had already known they had failed. “You are dismissed. I will see you in the morning.”

Three sets of eyes watched as Minato flashed across the desert and out of sight.

“Do you really think he knows where she is?” The first Anbu asked their captain.

“Yes. He is heading to the dune, the one where Akasuna’s clone gave us the slip. Come on, let’s get some rest.” The captain waved for his men to follow him to their guest quarters.

“Hokage Sama said he wouldn’t be back until morning though.” The second Anbu protested.

“Never trust anything that man tells you. He is Hokage for a reason. Old man Sarutobi never saw it coming, Minato was his students favorite, no one knew what kind of a man he really was until it was too late.” The Anbu captain shook his head and refused to say anymore.

“Kami help that woman. She ran from him, maybe she knows something about him we don't?” The first Anbu persisted.

“I said enough talk, come on, you never know who’s listening.” Their captain scolded them.

Minato flashed across the desert to the point where he had felt Sasori’s suppressed signature disappear and then reappear moments ago. He could feel the hum of a strong seal, a protection seal. ‘Found you’, he smiled, making the hand signs, and stepping into the cave.


	6. Chapter 6

Sasori’s clone had felt the man’s approach, had crouched down in the shadows and had waited. Soon the man appeared, his yellow hair greyish silver in the moonlight, a sinister glow thinly masking his ill intent as he looked over the protection seal. With a few hand signs, it had broken, with two steps, the man was there, in his cave, a threat to his...pet, his Sakura. No good would come of this.

“I know you’re there, surely you know you can’t hide from me...clone of Sasori.” Minato smiled pleasantly as Sasori’s clone stepped out of the shadows.

“You do not belong here. This cave is a sanctuary of Suna. It is protected, by me.” Sasori’s clone challenged the Hokage who didn’t appear impressed in the slightest.

“A sanctuary. Tell me, where is the woman? I do not feel her chakra. I only sense yours and…” Minato paused and looked down the corridor to the faint light of the cavern below. 

“Who is that I feel?” Minato pushed past Sasori’s clone with a flash and a flicker to the cliff mouth.

Sasori’s clone pulled wire from it’s pouch and lunged but Minato flashed to the side and up, kicking off the roof of the cliff mouth and pinning the clone to the floor with his own wire. “You’re slow, how unexpected.” Minato was surprised.

Minato rose from the clone’s body where he had pinned his arms and legs apart so he couldn’t disperse himself and warn the real Sasori of his presence in his cave. 

“What is this?” Minato suspected a trap. Sasori of the Red Sand would not be so easily pinned, clone or not.

His clone remained silent. Sakura’s chakra was still moving around his original body, his chakra wasn’t completely stable at the moment, of course his clone was slower than normal. The damn viper of a Hokage must have been waiting for him, or had been tracking him to know where his cave was. He had been careless, damn it...and now his pet, his Sakura….damn it.

“I wonder who is down there...what are you hiding Akasuna?” Minato smiled a charming smile at the clone on the floor. “Why don’t you stay here for a moment while I go...check it out.” Laughter fell over the side of the cliff as Minato dropped to the open cavern below.

Sakura heard the soft fall of feet, she felt the disturbance in the air around her. ‘Enemy’, her senses immediately went on alert. His chakra was barely familiar, its intent was dark, darker than...she saw his shadow before his form and closed her eyes, regulating and calming her breathing.

Minato noticed the obelisk first, an interesting sight, but immediately dismissed it for a more interesting and appealing sight of the woman in her bed. Taking his time, Minato walked around her small little camp site. He stopped by the hot pot, looked inside...moved to her shelves where Sasori had set her dishes and utensils for her.

Moving over to the bed where she lay he picked up the notebook, watching her out of the corner of his eye, as he flipped through the pages landing on her notes about...what the hell? Blue eyes narrowed on the woman, the notebook slipping through his hands back onto the bed.

“I know you’re awake, no use in pretending darling. Your chakra has changed, are you using a distorter?” Minato sat on the edge of Sakura’s bed. No use pretending, for either of them. She knew he was there and he knew she wasn’t sleeping. 

“No.” She said cautiously.

Sakura opened her green eyes to amused blue, her eyes flickered to her notebook that was at the end of her bed. That wasn’t where she had left it. She frowned, one eye on the Hokage, the other looking past him to her pack by the fire pit.

“Hokage Sama.” Sakura nodded to Minato who continued to smile at her.

It was a standoff, there was no mistake. Her blood pulsed through her veins and her heart thumped in her chest but her hand remained calm, her fingers wrapped around the kunai across her chest. This man, was technically her Hokage. Her loyal Konoha heart was betraying her. This was Naruto’s father, he was...an ally and yet...there was something about him, something dark she...didn’t trust him.

“You know me.” Minato cocked his head to the side playfully, his signature smile still on his face, as he watched the woman. 

“How do you know me, aside from the obvious, you seem to...know more about me than you should.” Minato nodded to her notebook at her feet.

He had seen her notebook with her notes on his and the Lord Second’s jutsu. Sakura licked her bottom lip, the man’s eyes watched her tongue flick across her mouth, she shivered. He seemed pleased and leaned forward to pick up her notebook. Sakura moved on instinct and darted to the end of the bed, grabbed her notebook and held it firmly up against her chest.

‘What’s the use, he already knows what’s in it’, she berated herself. This was bad, this was dangerous, she wasn’t sure what to do but…

“Who are you?” His voice was low. Gone was the light and playful tone, gone was the gentle sparkle in his eye. “How do you know about my son?”

“Hokage Sama.” Sakura’s eyes darted around the cavern behind him, she felt...alone, where was the comforting presence of the cave from before?

“Am I not your Hokage? You wore the uniform of a Konoha Jounin when I found you.” He flicked the ends of her chest wraps with a quick finger, smirking at her discomfort. “Of course, you aren’t wearing much now.”

His eyes moved over her uncovered body as he moved farther up onto the ledge into bed with her. Sakura had forgotten she was in her chest wraps and shorts, she had felt too safe when she had fallen asleep, she had been careless, she had been...his fingers were moving up her arm.

“I’m a Konoha kunoichi Hokage Sama, but uh…” Sakura swallowed and stuttered. His chakra was powerful, he had been letting it leak out a little at a time as a comfort, or was it a warning? Minato was a hero, he had died for all of them, but his chakra was…

Minato let his fingers fall from her skin. Her breathing had changed and her eyes flashed with recognition as she watched him watch her. She knew him...but he did not know her. Everyone knew him but her reaction wasn’t like most others reactions to him. She wasn’t...afraid of him. She was nervous but no, not afraid...and she should be. 

It perplexed him. She was half naked, alone and she wasn’t afraid. He had invaded her personal space, touched her and...interesting.

Touch had always been his favorite interrogation tactic while questioning kunoichi. It was astounding how much information you could get out of someone while making them, feel good. She was attractive, he wouldn’t mind touching her some more, but she was different, he didn’t think she would tell him what he wanted to know if he...pleasured her.

“You are not one of my Konoha kunoichi.” Minato sat back and away from her a little, noticing right away how she relaxed a bit at his gesture. He had been correct in his assumption then. He would need to handle this kunoichi differently than the others. “I would remember you.”

His eyes were so intense and they reminded her so much of her best friend , of Naruto. Her eyes softened as she looked at the Hokage. His son looked just like him. Minato’s eyes changed, she saw something move behind those beautiful blue eyes and her eyes narrowed.

Minato laughed out loud. “You’re a strange one, no mistake.”

His laughter had startled her. He sounded just like Naruto when he laughed. It made her smile. Little by little she began to relax around him. Minato noticed the small changes, was surprised at how easy it was to get under her guard, and he was...somehow. “Tell me where you are from Konoha kunoichi whom I have no recollection of, what is your name?”

Sakura smiled. She had been wrong, he was the Minato she knew, how silly of her. He didn’t seem put off by her demeanor, only cautious and who wouldn’t be, she had no real proof of who she claimed to be, only her word and a few scraps of paper. She relaxed her grip on her notebook, letting it fall to her lap. She still kept her kunai in her hand but little by little she felt her hostility drain from her limbs.

She blamed her years in Anbu. It had made her suspicious of everything and everyone. She had even pinned Naruto to her bedroom wall one night when he had surprised her with an emergency mission scroll. She had apologized to him for weeks afterward. He had laughed her through it, much like his father was doing for her now.

“My name is Sakura, Lord Fourth. I’m from uh, a different Konoha.” Sakura bit her bottom lip unsure of how much she should tell him. She desperately wanted an ally though, and he could help her, it was her variation of his own jutsu that had brought her here. If she told him the truth, maybe he would even let her look at the Lord Second’s archives again so she could get back home.

“A different Konoha huh?” He rubbed the back of his blonde head and grinned at her.

“You look just like Naruto when you do that.” Sakura smiled fondly at him, then clamped her hand over her mouth at her stupidity.

“Naruto, my son hum.” Minato moved closer to her, his gaze falling to the rapidly throbbing pulsepoint in her neck, contemplating his next move.

“My son is two years old...in this timeline darling, how would you know that he looks like me unless…” He licked his bottom lip and moved farther into her alcove with her. “Unless you know him, as a man.”

Sakura gasped, the kunai dropped from her fingers. Minato lurched forward pinning her flat to the bedding before the kunai slid off the covers and fell to the cavern floor with a muted clang. “Tell me beautiful, are you from the past, the future, or another dimension?” His hand reached for the kunai under her pillow, how predictable, and tossed it to the floor.

‘Two, Naruto was two so, so, oh kami damn it, she was in the past so, damn it and this is why, this is why the Hokage suspected her, he thought, oh no, what did he think? That she meant to harm Naruto? She would never hurt her best friend , never but of course he didn’t know that which is why he was…’ She had to get control of her thoughts, there was too much at stake here. She had to convince him she meant no harm to him, or to Konoha.

“I’m not here to hurt Naruto, I swear, he’s my best friend and teammate!” She squeaked as he pressed his body into hers, her leg was bent at an odd angle and it was beginning to pain her the more he moved on top of her.

“So the future.” He watched her green eyes widen, she nodded. “You’re a Konoha kunoichi from the future...then why the hell did you run from me earlier? Why do you seek refuge with Akasuna no Sasori?” he demanded.

“Sa Sasori?” Sakura’s spit caught in her throat on the name, and she began to choke.

“You don’t know do you.” A smile different than the one he had used before curved the corners of his lips. She didn’t know that the Puppetmaster had set his clone to watch her. She didn’t know that she had attracted the attention of one of the only shinobi in their world whose skill rivaled his own. Interesting and useful, for him.

Slowly, Minato moved off of her, releasing her from his hold and let her sit up. Sakura cleared her throat several times, her eyes watering from both choking and the shock of finding out Naruto was only two years old, which meant...she was only two years old. No wonder Minato didn’t know her. Kushina, oh no...Minato was alive that meant…”Is Kushina alive? Is your wife alive Hokage Sama? Naruto’s mother?”

The blonde resisted the urge to corner and pin her again at her boldness. No one talked to him so informally, particularly about something so personal. She said his son had been her teammate and her best friend, were they really that close, perhaps they had been something more?

“My wife is dead. She died the night of the nine tails attack on our village.” Minato watched her pulse jump again.

Sakura nodded and swallowed. “...and Naruto is he, he’s the vessel for Kurama then right?

“Kurama?” Minato asked, genuinely confused.

“The nine tails, his name is Kurama. You didn’t know?” She asked, also confused. She thought Kushina had known the nine tail’s name, didn’t she...oh, Sakura hummed, that was in her time not theirs but wait then...Minato was alive no, not just her time, her dimension, he had mentioned Sasori, oh no, oh kami no…

“I wasn’t aware the beast had a name, who would bother naming such a foul creature.” Minato laughed an edgy sort of laugh that drew Sakura’s attention from her own panicked state of realizing what Minato had said about Sasori earlier.

“He isn’t a foul creature.” Sakura unwisely narrowed her eyes at the Hokage. “He was imprisoned, by you and by the Lord First before you. He deserves our respect.”

“Does he?” The words fell like a challenge between them.

Sakura frowned, she didn’t know what to make of this man, of this Minato before her. He wasn’t like the ones from the history books of her time, he wasn’t like the reincarnation she had met in the fourth great war he was, similar, he was identical in appearance but he was also...darker and more intense and more...dangerous, he felt dangerous. 

The Lord Fourth was known for his skill, for his speed, he had ended the third great shinobi war almost single handedly when he had slaughtered more than half of Kumo’s forces in nearly a blink of the eye. Half of an army in a blink of an eye. Sakura blinked, her head jerking up as she felt warm hands on her shoulders pulling her back against a warm chest. The irony was not lost on her.

He had moved against the wall, his legs stretched out before him, making himself comfortable in her bed. “You must feel lost. Sit, let me help you. Let me calm you while you tell me how you came here. I saw your notebook as you know, I know you have been playing with my formula, with Tobirama Sama’s formula. Let me help you.”

Capable fingers dug into her shoulders and began a methodical massage. Sakura let out a deep breath. “Hokage Sama please, this is incredibly inappropriate.”

“There is no one here, no one will know, we need not stand on formalities. Let me help you, please Sakura, for Naruto. I might be able to help you get back to him.” He spoke softly into her ear, his breath warm over her neck as his head ducked down, his fingers moving slowly over her skin, kneading the tense muscles with superb skill.

He could feel it, the moment she gave in and relaxed against him. He was only a little surprised. He thought she would have put up a little more of a fight considering how she had shoved him away from her when they had first met. If he were honest, he had hoped for a bit more fight in her, he enjoyed it when they fought him, this was...a little too easy. It was as if she had a preconceived notion of trust as though…

“I was working with your technique, your flying thunder god technique, trying to change it into my own, like you did with Lord Second’s. Only, your knuckleheaded son Naruto suggested I incorporate some Uzumaki seals into it.” Sakura began her explanation of how she had come to be there as far as she knew it, pulling her covers up and around her trying to preserve some of her modesty.

“Uzumaki seals, Naruto suggested this?” Minato smiled at the thought of his son using his wife’s seals, but frowned at his foolishness. “Combining the formula of the Lord Second’s with an Uzumaki seal can be dangerous. Which seal did you use?” He asked her, his hands moving down to massage her arms.

“I used two Minato Sama, one for space, and one for time.” Sakura adjusted her weight a little away from the man’s chest. This felt wrong, this felt too intimate, and of course it was but it felt like she was betraying herself, like...a small pain shot through her body from her abdomen to the back of her neck.

“Are you alright Sakura?” Minato asked her, mock concern in his voice. He had felt her stiffen in his embrace, a smile was quickly repressed, was she going to fight him now?

“Uh yes Hokage Sama.” Sakura turned her head around to look at the man behind her. His hands had fallen from her arms and lay on his legs, beside her. “I think I need a drink, would you like some tea Hokage Sama?”

Sakura made to move off of the bed but his hand shot out to grab her and pull her back into the sleeping alcove. “You didn’t just move through time, you moved through space.” He told her as she fell on top of him and scrambled back against the wall and away from him.

“It is just a guess but, you fell from the sky, right in front of me, right where I had thrown my kunai. I had planned on moving past the sandstorm that had surprised me and my team but instead, before I could move, you came, you fell...right on top of where my kunai was, it is how I made it to you so quickly.” He told her making no move to grab her again.

“You didn’t just go back in time, you changed dimensions.” He told her what she had already begun to realize.

“You’re dead in my time, you died the same day Naruto was born, the day you were forced to seal Kurama inside him.” Sakura watched the man before her, her fears and suspicions growing by leaps and bounds with every breath she took. Another dimension. Another Minato, another Sasori. Sasori...he was alive, what the Hokage had said earlier…

“...but here...you’re alive. Here, Sasori is alive isn’t he?” Sakura’s eyes were already wide with the shock of her situation, but they widened further at the blonde’s nod of confirmation.

“Who do you think set you up in this cave darling?” Minato smirked at the woman, he could see the thoughts connecting in her head, he knew he would need to make his move soon and quickly, she was regaining her equilibrium, she would start to fight him back soon. He could barely contain his excitement.

“You mean...Sasori he, but that’s impossible he would never…” There was a flash of light, her body jerked sideways, she felt the wind through her hair and the covers ripped from her grasp as she flew across the cavern, her back hit hard against the side of the cliff, blonde messy hair tickled her nose.

“It appears things are a bit different in your world than mine.” The Yondaime pinned her arms above her head with one hand and pulled a line of rope from his pouch with the other tying her hands to his three pronged kunai on the cliffside wall.

“You’re going to tell me everything you know about my world and everything I want to know about yours.” His hands tugged at the end of her chest wrapps, the thin strips of cloth loosened and began to unravel.

“No, I don’t think I will...Hokage Sama.” Sakura grit her teeth and pushed back against the cliff side wall, wrapping one leg around the Hokage’s waist spinning him around, but before she could kick out with a chakra infused leg he ducked, turned and hit her hard across the face, pressing a kunai to her stomach with the other hand.

“Care to see if your impressive healing powers will save you from a direct jab to the heart?” He moved the kunai slowly up her middle cutting away the last of her bindings, watching the strips fall to the floor exposing her breasts to him, his kunai settling over her heart.

“Tell me, Konoha kunoichi from the future, can you heal yourself before your heart fails you, or will even you, die from such a wound?” His eyes remained on her face as his other hand moved to cup one of her breasts, his palm moving slowly over her skin, his fingers squeezing her nipple between his joints. 

He could see the hatred in her eyes, the betrayal and the disappointment. He laughed. This was going to be fun, he couldn’t remember the last time he had such a vivacious woman in his arms. 

“I am not the Namikaze you seem to know darling, but still…” He lifted her legs up and pressed his hardness into her core. “I hope you can find it in yourself to enjoy this, at least a little.”


	7. Chapter 7

The chakra restraining rope he had used to bind her hands dug into the flesh of her wrists. She gasped with pain as he ground into her, each clothed thrust pulling on her wrists against her bindings where he had tied her hands to his kunai embedded in the cliff wall behind her. Blood seeped from the wounds, down her wrists to run in rivets over her forearms.

Her plan had been to pull up, to grip the kunai between her hands and pull it from the wall with one quick chakra infused yank and turn the blade against him, but he was smart, he had seen the barest rudimentaries of her skills, and had bound her wrists with chakra suppressing ropes.

With one hand under her right inner thigh, gripping her to bruising to keep her body in place, he continued to twist her nipple between his knuckles with his right hand. 

“Tell me.” He breathed into the sensitive skin just under her ear, his tongue hot over her rapidly throbbing pulse. “How do you know my son, what do you know of his future in your time, does he kill the one tail host, do we win?”

“Win?”, Sakura hissed from behind tightly clamped lips. This was not the Minato she knew of. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“You said you knew my son, you knew he was the jinchuriki for the nine tails, you claimed to be his teammate and his friend. Don’t you care about his future? I’m going to use him and that disgusting creature inside of him to help me win the war, darling.” Minato nuzzled the side of Sakura’s neck, his left hand sliding farther up her leg and inner thigh tugging on the elastic of her shorts. His intentions were clear.

“Stop!” Sakura tried to push off of him, tried to twist in his grip to free herself from his touch. He dropped her legs back to the ground and took her hair in both of his hands, twisted it up into a tightened grip, and yanked her head back.

“Tell me what I want to know and I’ll stop.” Blue eyes watched her reaction to his words, he could see the thoughts racing through her head as her eyes darted back and forth...he loved it, the indecision, the suspense of what she would do next, he saw her breath hitch in her throat as his words sunk in. “If not, then…”

Minato ducked his head and laid opened mouth kisses along her jaw, slowly making his way down her neck to her collarbone, he relished the feel of her body shivering under his touch, he marveled at the goosebumps popping up all over her skin. His hands fell slowly from her hair, releasing the painful grip on her head as he traced the column of her neck with his fingertips, his lips buried between her breasts.

“Tell me Sakura, does my boy help me win my war?” He laid one last soft kiss between her breasts, his hands fell to her waist as he looked back up at her, halfway to his knees before her.

“Yes.” She told him what she knew he wanted to hear. 

She could feel his dark energy surrounding her, it was making it hard for her to focus, this was like nothing she had faced before. Men like him, shinobi like him, were legends for a reason. All of her training with Tsunade, all of her Anbu training was just...useless compared to the powerful chakra snapping around her, flooding her senses, it was overwhelming...intoxicating and...painful.

“Does he kill the one tail’s host?” Minato ran his thumb down the side of her breast as he looked up into her eyes, his voice soft, cajoling and threatening at the same time. He watched in amusement as her eyes widened and she stuttered.

“Gaara? You want Naruto to kill Gaara?” Sakura couldn’t believe her ears, this was, this was...her heart hurt, this man was sick. Of course, she reminded herself, Gaara and Naruto weren’t friends here, now but still… She was disgusted by the thought of Naruto killing Gaara, one of his friends at his father’s order was just...so revolting to her. “You’re disgusting, you sicken me. You’re nothing like the fourth Hokage in my time. You’re a joke.”

Sakura raised her head and looked him in the eye, he had used her long enough.

“Going to be brave are we?” He stepped back up to her, pleased with her resolve. “You forget, I’m not the one pinned to the wall without my chakra...darling. However, I like a woman with a little fight in her.”

‘Damn it’, Sasori’s clone couldn’t see what was going on but he could damn well hear them and he didn’t like what he heard. His pet was in trouble, she needed him…he had been working one of his legs loose a little at a time but it wasn’t enough. He would never make it out from underneath the wires before the man did his pet, his Sakura, serious damage. She was fighting him, fighting back and as much as he admired her for it, he couldn’t help but think her foolish. The man was the Hokage for a reason, he needed to find a way to break the jutsu, he had to tell his original...

Sasori looked out the window of his bedroom in the Kazekage’s manse. Something wasn’t right. Something was off but he couldn’t tell exactly what it was. He had been feeling small tugs in his abdomen and had a slight throbbing pain in the back of his neck. He knew it was his connection to Sakura but he had left a clone with her, she was fine. Still, he couldn’t quite shake that feeling that something...was wrong.

Should he disperse his clone? He wouldn’t be able to get another one to her until morning. His change in behavior had already been noticed he was sure but...he had learned over the last two wars not to ignore his intuition. With a finger, he dispersed his clone. Fear swept through him, then anger. 

“How dare you, how dare you touch something that is mine…” Sasori growled, leaping from the second story window of the Kazekage manse and racing out into the desert toward his cave, toward Sakura.

As angry as Sasori was, he knew what this meant, he knew that if he chose her...if he went to her, he knew what challenging the Hokage meant. It meant war. War between Suna and Konoha. 

“So be it.” He hissed. It was time for his foolish brother to step down from his figurative position, he had already done enough damage to Suna. It was time Suna took its rightful place in the sun once more, under it’s true Kazekage. His original plan did not coincide with these new events...well that was fine. Sasori was still confident in his plans, they would just need to be...adjusted.

Minato could feel him drawing closer, he would need to leave soon. While he was not afraid of Sasori of the Red Sand, a confrontation with the man was not something he wanted right now. The woman against him shivered in the cold of the cavern, he would leave her bare, let the Puppet master find her unclothed, let him see what he had done to her.

“It seems my presence has been noted, darling. I’ll see you again.” Minato smirked into Sakura’s green eyes. “Tell Sasori...I’ll be waiting.” Minato laughed, ran up the cliffside over her head and out through the corridor into the desert as Sasori appeared at the cliff mouth on the other side of the cavern.

What little strength she had regained after falling through the cracks of time, left her. The pain in her wrists as her weight pulled against her restraints seemed arbitrary against the pull of her sudden exhaustion. The sudden departure of her looming threat left her dazed and the sudden appearance of her worst enemy of a former life registered very little on her awareness. A soft soothing chakra enveloped her, she barely felt the gentle fingers pulling the restraining rope from her wrists as she dropped like dead weight into his arms.

“Sasori…” She whispered as her eyes closed against his chest. A soft sigh escaping her lips. Acceptance radiated from her skin.

Pain like nothing he had ever felt before ripped through his chest. Pain and warmth. Regret, a rare, almost foriegn emotion for him. He had failed to protect her.

“Forgive me, pet.” Sasori whispered into her sweat dampened hair. His limbs shook with barely suppressed anger at the broken sight of the woman in his arms. The man no doubt had left her in this state to show him...that he could. The message was not lost on Sasori, the meaning was clear.

“Different, so clear…” Sakura mumbled, her head trying to make sense of her situation. “Sasori.”

“I’m here.” He told her.

Sasori set his pet down by the shallow stream. “I’m going to clean and bandage your wrists.” He said gently, his hands unclasping his cloak from his neck and pulling it from his shoulders to wrap around her, covering her bare chest. Slowly, he pulled each of her wrists through the cloak’s side sleeves to make her more comfortable.

‘Thoughtful...unlike him…’, the notion of Sasori of the Red Sand taking care of her was simply too ludicrous for her mind to comprehend and yet...

“I will bring you some more suitable clothes tomorrow, until then, wear this to cover yourself.” He murmured as he opened his pouch and prepared to clean and bandage her wounds. The rope had cut deep into the soft flesh around her wrists. 

Sakura opened her eyes and watched the man, he was...Sasori and yet...like Minato, he was not the same man she remembered. His chakra was not threatening, his voice wasn’t as arrogant it was…”Why are you doing this for me?” 

Sasori didn’t answer her. He didn’t look up from her bloodied wrists as he continued to clean them. Sakura waited. She knew from their previous interactions in her time, he would either answer her, or he wouldn’t.

“I found you. You are my responsibility.” He wiped the last of the blood from her wrist and looked up into her eyes. “This is my sanctuary. I thought...you would be safe here. Forgive me.”

He bent his head to his pouch again and pulled out a small glass jar that Sakura recognized as a healing ointment. She watched as he unscrewed the lid, scooped a thumbnail of the ointments up into his palm and began to massage it into her wrists, one at a time. She studied the man before her. She should be scared, she should be running for her life, she should...her eyes closed again at his gentle attentions. 

‘Forgive me’, he had said. Sakura felt his fingers move effortlessly over the cuts on her skin, she felt the smooth texture of the gauze wrappers as he wrapped her wrists and set them in her lap. Her mind was at war with her body, her senses screamed trust while her mind demanded she fight his hands on her, his chakra surrounded her. The inner conflict flipped and flopped inside her head and her heart...failed her. She felt...betrayed. She felt angry, but most of all, she was just very, very confused.

“Nothing is what it seems, my perception is flawed. Who are you?” She mumbled into his chest as he carried her to the alcove he had made for her.

“I am not the man you knew in your time. Consider this...a new beginning for both of us.” He laid her down on the bedding and brushed the hair back from her face. “Sleep my pet. I will be here when you wake.”

Sakura nodded, too tired to resist, to question, or to argue...even with herself. “Thank you...Sasori.” What a strange thing to say, she smiled to herself. Her head felt deliciously light surrounded by his soothing chakra...safe...she felt, safe.

Sasori’s fingers lingered on her cheek, his thumb brushing the corner of her smiling lips. “So beautiful.” He whispered, his hand reluctantly falling away from her soft skin. 

He could have healed them for her, he knew some medical jutsu from his grandmother but...some scars served as reminders. He placed a hand over her abdomen...she hadn’t healed the wound completely from his other self and she could have. Did she want the reminder? He didn’t know but he felt...she should remember that her perception of this world, was not the same as the one she had come from. 

Hate filled his veins as his eyes fell back onto her damaged wrists. Guilt at his own negligence made his stomach turn. It had been a long time since he had felt such strong emotions, it had been a long time since he had let them fuel his actions. What he once would have considered a weakness, he now considered a strength. If the wars he had been forced into had taught him one thing...it was that love...was a very rare and precious thing.

Sitting on the edge of Sakura’s bed he took several deep breaths, his mind taking him back to the not so innocent days of his youth, when his parents had failed to come home to him. He could remember it like it had been yesterday, because he had told himself...never to forget.

Sasori had never been a very social child. His standoffish personality and quiet demeanor set most of his peers on edge. As he grew older the gap between him and those of his corresponding age grew. He was a prodigy, a master in nearly every task he set out to conquer, what normal child or shinobi for that matter...could compare, could keep up with him, could understand him?

None.

He had been in his room, reading a book far exceeding the normal reading level of a four year old when his grandmother had come to his door. Her hesitance disturbed him, he knew...without her uttering a single word. His parents were dead. Their return had been long overdue, he had already known something was wrong. He looked up into her seemingly ancient eyes. He could see the indecision, the pain, the cowardice.

“Tell me.” He commanded. Even then, he had learned to command...even then he knew he was a leader.

“Sasori.” His grandmother hesitated. “They are gone, they were killed...for Suna.” Her voice cracked. 

He was disgusted. She was weak. ‘Pathetic’, her words flowed over his little mind, his eyes hardened. ‘For Suna’, always for Suna...why? Why for Suna, why must everything be for Suna?’, He asked himself. 

He had been four years old when he had begun to question the way of the shinobi, the way of the world around him. His parents were dead, his grandmother was a coward, his people were weak...it was up to him.

Sasori was four...when he decided, he would be the change he wanted to see in the world. Sasori was four...when he hardened his heart. There was no more room in his world for love...love, he decided, was a weakness.

It wasn’t until many years after, during the third shinobi war that he learned just how wrong he had been. A grown man, a one man army, the possessor of the famous ‘Black Guard Ten’, he stepped out onto the battlefield. The advancing Iwa nin never stood a chance against him. They fell around him like lice, worthless bodies without form, they weren’t even human in his eyes, worthless, lifeless...meaningless...save one.

He was bleeding to death, his eyes closed...the last of his foes. Soundlessly Sasori had walked to him, piteously he had looked down into his bright blue green eyes and had raised his pinky finger for the final blow...he was going to die anyway but Sasori found by then, he enjoyed the sight of the last, the noise they made to signal the end, the victory.

With bated breath he waited for the whimper, the begging, the plea...but none came. With a slight frown Sasori had bent over the man, his lips were moving and he was holding something in his hand, a picture, a small blood smeared still frame of a woman.

The redhead realized that the man was praying. 

How pointless, he thought as he looked down on him, head cocked to the side…”Why pray, nothing will save you, praying most certainly won’t. I am your deliverer, I am death. You will die no matter how much you pray to your kami...why do something so pointless?”

Sasori didn’t understand.

“I do not...pray...for myself. I know...you...are...going to kill….me….I know I ….am going….to ….die.” The man bit out in between coughing fits as his blood filled his lungs, drowning him.

“I pray...for those...I ...leave...behind….for those…..I …….love.” The man grit his teeth as the last merciless spasm shook and bent his body in pain. “Agh….love...is much...more...powerful…..than…..death, than...killing.”

“Something more powerful than death.” Sasori muttered. “I see.”

“Do...you?” A mirthless laugh.

“Yes.” Sasori bent to the man and for the first time since his parents had died and left him alone, he thought of someone else...or perhaps it was for himself, to this day he still didn’t understand why he had done it...but he had. 

He bent over the man and with his chakra, healed the internal wound that plagued him, lifted him to a sitting position, pierced his chest with chakra strings, and drained his chest of the blood that suffocated him.

“Why?” The man stared at Sasori with confused but grateful eyes, “Why save me?”

“I...too, wanted to do something pointless.” Sasori laid the man down confident he would live and walked off the battlefield, out of the Land of Earth, home to Suna with a new purpose, a new drive. 

Too long had he hidden away, too long had he run from his responsibilities. It was time. It was time that Sasori of the Red Sand return to Suna to help his brother...Suna needed more than a killer, it needed...a purpose. Sasori had found his and he would be hers...for Suna.

So he had returned from the war a hero, feared and determined. His brother had been surprised, pleased, but surprised when Sasori had told him of his plan for the future. It would not be easy. Konoha had their claws deep within Suna’s council, trade and military.

“One thing at a time.” Sasori had told his brother. “You continue as you are. I will work from the shadows.”

That night, he had left Suna to assassinate the Daimyo, who had been outsourcing their missions to Konoha for the last five years, draining Suna slowly of its power and prestige in the Land of Wind. The Daimyo that was chosen by Konoha, by Minato Namikaze. It was a start, a bold move. A move that would inevitably bring them to the brink of war...with Konoha.

Sasori watched Sakura sleep. His foolish brother and his notion of cheating. They could not afford to alienate the other nations, not now. He would need them, some of them, for his war. He knew Suna was not the only Hidden Village under the thumb of the Blonde Menace. The enemy of my enemy is my friend. Sakura moved in her sleep, unconsciously wincing at the pain in her wrists making Sasori clench his teeth. It was time Suna reached out to the other Hidden Villages. It was time Sasori of the Red Sand...made some friends.


	8. Chapter 8

“We’re leaving.” The voice of their Hokage woke the two Anbu who had been resting as their captain bowed low before the blonde in the dim moonlit room.

Silently, his team assembled, then one by one, they dropped from the window of their borrowed quarters and stole out into the desert dark. They made no effort to conceal their movements, there was no need. The board had been set. Minato smirked as he flashed ahead of his team toward home. There were things to do, he doubted very much that Sasori would allow him time to plan, the man was known for his quick ruthless efficiency, both on and off the battlefield.

Anticipation quickened his movements. An adversary worth his efforts. Minato smiled a genuinely pleased smile. He was really looking forward to this. He had been disappointed when Akasuna had passed the title of Kazekage to his younger, less qualified brother. It had puzzled Minato momentarily before he realized that the man simply didn’t like the attention, that he preferred to work from the shadows… a Puppetmaster indeed…

The nine tails jinchuriki was young, too young for this war, but so was the one tail...a fair fight then. Calculations, considerations and weaknesses flew through Minato’s nimble mind as he flew across the deserted terrain leaving his team far behind him. Who were Suna’s allies...who were Konoha’s...two lists began to form in his head, the very same lists he knew were forming in that of his worthy foe’s. Who could he trust to stand beside him in the coming war, who could he trust to betray him…

She felt like she was floating, her hands rose to move back and forth in front of her face as she had willed them, but she couldn’t see them. A thick fog had risen up around her. She was standing alone, in the middle of Training ground 5, her old team's favorite training ground. A familiar place. A comfortable place. A place she could navigate with her eyes closed. She wasn’t afraid. She was safe.

Sakura didn’t need to see to move, she didn’t need to use ‘that’ sense but she wanted it. The urge was almost overwhelming, like the pull of something soothing, more than a need, a desire. She looked out in front of her. In her mind’s eye she could see her hands and yet...they weren’t there. In her mind's eye, she could see herself standing alone in the middle of the field and yet...she wasn’t there.

I’m dreaming...she told herself. A laugh, she felt so silly. Can you tell yourself you are dreaming, in a dream?

Darkness, thick and brutal surrounded her. No, she thought, I’m safe. This is a safe place...and it is a dream, but she didn’t feel safe anymore, she only felt...darkness.

A cackle rippled through the air startling her. Her head whipped around in vain. There wasn’t anything there. She could almost taste it’s evil intent. The threat of the unknown hung in the air, clouding her senses. She could no longer ‘feel’ the fog that swirled around her. In light of this new threat the lack of her sense of sight seemed much more troubling. There was a throbbing in the back of her neck, a throbbing in her abdomen.

Flashes of yellow whipped by her making her stumble, her balance was compromised...by air. ‘There’s nothing there’, she reminded herself, but she knew it was a lie. Something was there. Something evil.

“Who’s there?” She voiced her question, her fear, as she felt the flow of dark chakra surround her, replacing the fog. Evil, it was evil that lurked beyond her peripheral.

“Move.” She told herself. “It’s a dream”, she contradicted herself. Something was coming, she could feel it...ran...she moved...nothing happened. “Move!” She said again, louder, her voice cracked and weak. ‘Pathetic’, she moaned.

“Sakura.” A voice. She turned….who…

“I will be here when you wake.” Peace. The voice was calming, soothing. She wasn’t alone. The darkness faded. She wasn’t alone. Someone, someone was there with her...it was going to be okay.

‘Wake up’, she told herself. 

“Wake up.” The voice said to her.

“Okay Sasori.” She moaned. Why was she moaning...oh...the pain. Why was she in pain….

“...Minato!” Sakura jerked in her sleep and pushed up from the bed, the weight of her body thrown back on her wrists. “Agh!”, she rolled over in pain, the weight of her body falling from the pain in her wrists, she can’t hold herself up. 

“Damn it.” She clenched her teeth to grinding. “Why does it hurt so much…”

“I did not heal your wounds. I thought, you might wish to keep the scars.” The voice from her dream spoke from her bedside.

“Keep them…” Sakura looked down at her bound wrists, then to the man beside her bed. “Ah...Sasori, so, you really are alive huh.” Her voice was steady, calm. ‘How unusual’, she thought.

“You sound disappointed.” He cocked his head at her. She blinked.

“I’m...not sure what to feel, honestly.” She said quietly, looking away from his intense gaze. Sakura realized she wasn’t as surprised as she would assume she would be upon seeing her former enemy...alive and sitting beside her bed.

They sat in silence. Sasori watching Sakura. Sakura avoiding his eye.

“I don’t know you.” He wasn’t sure how to begin the introductions of...the past and present. “...but you know me.”

Sakura turned to look at the man and swallowed. This was more than awkward for her. Minato was different from the one she knew but it didn’t mean everyone was different from her time. Minato’s words came back to her…”Why do you seek refuge with Akasuna no Sasori?”.

“This was your doing?” Sakura waved her hand around the campsite, the bed she was in, the firepit. Sasori nodded. Her heart thrummed in her chest. He had done this for her...“Why?”

“You were in my cave. Only those...connected to me can enter. Only you and one other.” He said cryptically.

Sakura hadn’ t expected a straight answer from the man but it was still frustrating. Sakura studied his face. His eyes, those damned amber eyes of his...were still intense, but instead of the arrogance she had encountered in their first meeting, in her time and place, she saw...curiosity and was it...longing, or perhaps calculation? As startling as the thought was it was also a bit...comforting.

“I don’t trust you.” She said without conviction.

He smirked at her, a familiar sight that made her growl, he laughed...her eyes widened in surprise. He had a rather pleasant laugh.

“You would be a fool to trust me given our...past.” He paused. “...but surely you must know now after your conversation with the Hokage, this is not your dimension, so logically speaking, I am not the man you once knew, or feared.” 

Sakura opened her mouth to speak but shut it as he added…

“However, you must also realize how much danger you are in for denying the Hokage his...desires.” He said flatly, his lips pressed tightly together in displeasure.

It was surreal. He was angry she realized, he was bothered at her distress, he was...he cared. She felt sick. It was too much. 

“Deep breaths dear. In through the nose, out through the mouth.” He patted her hand gently.

“I know that. I’m a medic.” She snapped at him without meaning to, pulling her hand away from his touch, then frowning at the loss of warmth. “Sorry.” She bit out quickly.

“I’m sure this is rather...daunting to you.” He said easily not at all put off by her attitude. He wanted to give her more time to process her situation but he was curious about what he had heard her say when she had thought herself alone.

“Daunting.” Sakura laughed a bewildered sort of laugh. “Yes, definitely daunting to come face to face with the man who has haunted my dreams for the last seven years but…” She peered at him more closely.

“You really aren’t the same man I killed with Granny Chiyo are you?” She bit her bottom lip nervously.

“No, I’m not.” He said quietly, silently urging her to continue.

“You’re, um, not a puppet are you?” Sakura asked him, though, she already knew the answer. She could see for herself that he wasn’t. Perhaps that was the difference, he was human. Whereas...whereas the Sasori of her time had already traded his humanity for inhumanity.

Sasori didn’t answer her, he wasn’t sure how to answer her. Was she saying that in her time he had...made himself into a puppet? Why the hell would he do something like that? How could he manage to do anything like that?

“You’re older too, but of course you would be, if you’re not a puppet.” She said more to herself he thought than to him. “I mean you were fifteen Granny Chiyo said, when you left Suna. She thought you probably made the change soon after so of course you’re older now, taller.” Sakura muttered, her eyes drifting over his body as she continued to compare the man before her to the puppet she once knew.

“Did you do this for me?” She raised her arms up, the white of the bandages before her face.

“Yes.”

“Thank you.”

Silence fell between them.

“You didn’t know did you?” She asked him, looking up at him through her bangs.

“That I turned myself into a puppet in your time? No, how would I even begin to imagine the possibility of such a thing?” He scoffed. It wasn’t something he had even considered before but now that she had mentioned it, he began to wonder at the possibilities.

“Do you, um, do you make them now, your human puppets?” She asked. “Your eternal art?”

Sasori narrowed his eyes at the woman, how did she know he referred to his puppets as eternal art...he had never mentioned the desire behind the creations. Pet or not, he didn’t like these questions. “What do you know of my art? I take it that we battled and I lost but what could you possibly know of me to ask me such a thing?”

He knew he was being difficult but he didn’t care. He knew that you could learn things about people that you could only learn in battle. He was being...childish, but he didn’t care. She was annoying him. It was annoying that she clearly knew more about him than he knew about her.

“I don’t know you.” She said, raising her head to meet his eyes. “I know what you became and a little about what pushed you go to such extremes. When I fought you I was naive about everything, but after I fought you I changed. I...grew.” 

Sasori waited, he could tell she had more to say.

“Thank you.” She whispered so quietly that if he hadn’t been paying such close attention to her, he might not have heard her. “You made me realize...who I was, who I wanted to be.” 

“I don’t know you, you’re right. I didn’t really know you then and I certainly don’t know you here, now.” She watched him as closely as he was watching her. 

“I do feel...connected to you though, as strange as that may sound. I felt...I mean...when we fought then, you said something to me that made me think you might have uh. I might have earned your respect because um…”

“You did.” Sasori cut her off, he couldn’t stand her stuttering, the way she started a thought and then moved to another it was maddening. “I sealed you to me.”

“What?” She narrowed her eyes at him.

“You killed me.” He reminded her, as if that explained everything.

“Actually we killed you. Lady Chiyo and I. Your grandmother delivered the killing blow, but I got my shots in. Broke your face and a few other things.” She smirked at him.

“Brat.” He glared at her audacity but his gaze held no heat.

“You’re different. I mean, I know you aren’t him but the difference is rather disturbing.” She said honestly. “...but not nearly as disturbing as Minato Namikaze.”

Sasori growled, startling Sakura. “You need not worry about that man. He will not bother you again. I give you my word.” Sakura nodded slowly, her eyes searching his face, not sure how to reply to such a statement from a, former enemy who had tried to kill her, had poisoned her several times and had been one of the key members of one of the most dangerous terrorist organizations in the world, her world.

“I can heal your wounds, unless you wish to keep the scars.” He said flatly, unsure how to speak to her just yet. It was a dance between them, not sure how the other would react.

“I can heal them.” Sakura tugged at the band of her left wrist carefully, wincing slightly as she pulled the wrapper away. It hurt and stung. The blood had dried to the wound made the wrap stick to her skin, fresh blood welled up from where she had ripped the cloth from the dried spots, dropping onto her lap.

“Tsk.” Sasori batted her hand away from her own wrist. “I thought you were a medic, stop that woman for kami’s sake, you’re making a mess.” He pulled her by the upper arms toward him and lifted her in his arms.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing!” She hissed at him, her hands pressed against his chest trying to climb back out of his arms.

“Stop moving woman.” He commanded, ignoring her pushing, increasing his grip on her, smooshing her against his chest to keep her from falling as he walked her back to the stream he had originally cleaned her wounds in. “I’m going to take care of you.”

A soothing pulse from the back of her neck to her abdomen stilled her and made her relax against him. A sigh escaped her bewildered lips. She didn’t understand, her body was betraying her. “What is, what …”

“Set your hands in the water, let the water soak and soften the wraps, it will make it easier to remove them, then you can heal yourself.” Sasori ignored her sputtering. 

Now was not the time to speak of their bond. He was a quick learner, and he knew that the news they were bonded for life...would not go over well with the pink haired hellion...but of course it was to be expected. He would not have chosen a weak woman, no matter what dimension he was in.

He watched as she quite obviously bit back her witty retort, and placed her arms in the cool water without further complaint. She was still tired, he could tell. Her shoulders drooped and the lines along the corners of her mouth had yet to fade. She would need to eat. He hadn’t brought any food with him in his need to reach her as quickly as possible. Sasori didn’t want to leave her, he doubted the man would return to torment her...tonight, but it wasn’t worth the risk to him. He would have to send a shadow clone.

“I will send a clone to get you some food. You need to eat more than the chicken and leek soup to regain all of your strength.” He made the hand signs for his clone before she could protest. Only after her eyes watched the clone race up the side of the cliff wall and away did she question him.

“You said you helped me because we were connected, what did you mean by that.” Her weight shifted into a more comfortable position and she lay down on her stomach, her arms stretched out before her floating in the cool water. 

So, she had decided to trust him after all. Did she realize laying on her stomach left her vulnerable to attack...did she consciously realize how at ease she was around him or...he cleared his throat. “Can you not feel it? The energy between us? Are you not a sensor then?”

She shook her head. “I’m not a sensor, not a good one at least but I do feel, uh...something. It’s different from Namikaze Sama’s chakra in this time, than the one in my own. I felt it before too, after I woke up on that island, a familiar chakra, connection.” She nodded toward the grassy mound of his obelisk.

“That’s because I was here...there.” He turned and pointed behind himself, to the cliff mouth.

“You were here so you…” Her words came back to her slowly through the fog and frenzy of recent events. “You heard me say I killed you and that I couldn’t get back.” She muttered.

“No wonder you’re handling this better than I am.” She grumbled, waving her arms in the water back and forth where the wrappings had started to come apart. “You’ve had more time to think this over than I have.”

“I think you’re handling it quite well, no doubt a result of your training.” Sasori said, looking away, up the length of his obelisk, wondering how much he ought to tell her about it.

Sakura’s head snapped to the side. Had Sasori just complimented her? She smiled. She rather liked this Sasori, he was preferable to the murdering poisonous puppet of her time at any rate. She frowned. That wasn’t precisely true. This one could have just as easily ended up like the last one, or that one like this one. Was the one of her time really all that bad...she wasn’t sure anymore.

Green eyes moved over the man’s form taking in the small details of his shirt...of his face.. Even as a puppet she had thought him handsome, in an abstract sort of way. As a man he was rather...Sakura cleared her throat. She had more important things to think about.

Aware of her quiet scrutiny, Sasori kept his eyes on his obelisk, slightly disappointed she had dismissed him so quickly. He hadn’t minded her scrutiny. He wondered if she found him as attractive as he found her. Did their past still trouble her, she had said he had been the basis of her nightmares for many years. Did the sight of him still trouble her, he wondered.

“I can see why my other self placed his seal in you.” Sasori turned his eyes from his obelisk and looked the woman in the eyes. His hand rose, taking a lock of her short hair in between his fingers. “Such an unusual color. It’s very rare. I’ve never seen anyone with hair like yours before.”

Sakura couldn’t look away from his eyes. Her ears couldn’t get enough of his voice. She blinked.

“It’s beautiful.” He murmured. “You’re beautiful.”


End file.
